Returning To The New World
by TomThorpe
Summary: It's been two years and two months since Cloud left Spira, as well as Yuna and the others. Yuna has defeated Vegnagun and saved Spira for the second time, however she is still not satisfied, she wants Cloud back. Strange things happen to Yuna while she sleeps echoing voices swirl around her mind and they seem familiar. Could it really be his voice? Sequel to Cloud in the New World.
1. It All Starts With The Dream

_**It All Starts With The Dream**_

Yuna, Rikku and Paine had just defeated Vegnagun however Shuyin still remained. The girls had underestimated the heart broken spirit and found themselves on the verge of defeat. They were on the floor in pain, out of everything they have been through was this how it was going to end? Rikku and Paine were completely helpless in their current state and Yuna had started to crumble as well. She fell to her knees, her vision was blurry. All of her muscles ached and she couldn't hold herself up anymore, despite all of her efforts she fell from her knees to her stomach.

It looked like the end for Y.R.P until something happened, something no one expected. Green lights appeared before them and began spiralling around. Slowly the lights took shape, it was the shape of a person. It was a man, however he was different, he was there yet he wasn't there. This mystery man wore all black, he had leather gloves on, one arm was covered by a sleeve and the other was sleeveless, his hair was spiky and blonde. The thing that stood out the most was the faint blue glow coming from his eyes. With sword in hand the mystery man stood in front of the girls like a wall of iron. "And just what are you!?" Shuyin bellowed however the man remained quiet. He charged Shuyin and swung his sword left and right. Shuyin couldn't keep up with the incredible speed of the talented swordsman and eventually he made a mistake. The mystery man locked swords with him and moved his blade down to the handle of Shuyin's spinning it around as he did which caused Shuyin's sword to fly out of his hands. Mercilessly the warrior then slashed him across the chest, putting an end to the chaos.

Yuna's vision was still blurry however she could see the man approach her. Green lights spiralled him, the same ones that brought him here. She couldn't make out the face, although she could see the sadness in his eyes as well as the happiness. Just as her eyes began to close the man disappeared just as quickly as he appeared. With that her eyes closed and she passed out.

 ** _2 months later_**

How long had it been since then? Just over 2 years? It felt like it was only a few days ago when Yuna fought Yu Yevon together with her friends. Herself, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Rikku, Tidus, Auron and... him. Yuna had been searching for a sign of him ever since he left. After their fight with Vegnagun and after seeing that mysterious man defeat Shuyin, the fayth brought one of her friends back. They had brought back Tidus and while she was happy about this and happy for Rikku, she was still sad. It didn't seem fair that the fayth had brought back Tidus for Rikku after everything they had been through with Yuna. Light bounced off of her eye shaped locket from the window of the airship and caught her attention. She opened it and saw his face staring back at her and every time she saw it her eyes got watery. Why did he have to leave?

Since they defeated Sin and Vegnagun Lulu and Wakka had had a baby together. Little Vidina was so cute and although he caused the two of them trouble he always managed to melt their hearts. Kimahri had become Elder Ronso and lived on Mount Gagazet where all the surviving Ronso asked him for advice and guidance. Rikku had been adventuring along side Yuna as a sphere hunter, where they looked for spheres hidden all around Spira. One day Rikku found a sphere that had someone that looked like Tidus on it, which lead to her, Yuna and Paine looking for more spheres like that one. Eventually they found a sphere relating to Vegnagun which set them on a new quest. In the end after finding out the fayth had somehow returned they defeated Vegnagun and were rewarded by the fayth. Tidus had been brought back which made Rikku so happy. Tidus joined the girls as a part of the Gullwings and flies with them in the airship, which brings us up to date.

Recently the fight with Shuyin had been on Yuna's mind. Had she just seen an illusion? Or was that really who she thought it was that saved them from certain death? Yuna walked into the cockpit of the airship and spoke to Paine. "Hey, can I ask you something?" she asked and Paine nodded "Sure, what is it?". Yuna told her about the man that appeared and defeated Shuyin and asked "Did you see him?" which made Paine pause. She scratched her head as she tried to remember "I don't think I remember. That fight drained me out a lot, when we were in that state I couldn't have remembered anything. Sorry." she eventually said. Yuna was disappointed by this and said "It's not your fault. Where's Rikku? Maybe she remembers." "She's up on deck with Tidus."

As Yuna walked up on deck she saw Rikku and Tidus cuddling on the edge. They were so happy together which made Yuna feel sick. She wanted to feel like that too, she wanted her boyfriend back as well. The two of them noticed her as she approached them and stood up to meet her. "Hey Yunnie!" Rikku exclaimed buzzing with energy while Tidus said "What's up?" calming down the tone. Yuna didn't want to interupt them but this was something that couldn't wait "Hey guys. Rikku I wanted to ask you something. I didn't want to get in the way but this is something important." "Ask away!" Rikku responded to which Yuna nodded her head at. "Back when we fought Shuyin, do you remember seeing a man dressed in black save us?" Yuna asked her which got Rikku into a curious mood "I don't remember, I must've been out cold. But do you think it could've been..."

Silence fell upon the three as the memories flooded in. It had happened right here on this airship when he left them. It all happened so fast and there was so much Yuna wanted to say to him. At last the silence was broken by Tidus who said "You know that we'll do whatever we can to help you. After all you helped Rikku bring me back so it's only right that we help you get Clou-" before Rikku stepped on his foot. Rikku gave Tidus a look that gave to message not to say the name. It was too late anyway. While Yuna didn't show her sadness it was completely destroying her on the inside at the sound of that name. "You know Yuna, you look tired. Maybe you should get some rest, all you've been doing recently is work work work." Rikku suggested which Yuna took on board. They exchanged goodbyes and Yuna headed for the living quarters of the airship. As soon as her head touched the soft inviting pillow her mind went blank and she instantly fell asleep.

~!~

Green lights flashed and pyreflies were spiralling around in a dark abyss. Yuna didn't know where she was. Voices could be heard echoing in the abyss.

"What do you want from me? I'm leaving!"

"We require your assistance. It's in our best interest to hire a little muscle."

"Too bad, it's got nothing to do with me."

"You're all we have! Look, you're an ex-SOLDIER aren't you?"

"Yeah, in my head..."

Yuna's eyes darted open and she was breathing heavily. Sweat had formed around her forehead. Slowly she sat upright and tried to process what had just happened. Was that a dream? It was so intense and lifelike. What about those voices? Could that really have been him? She covered her face with her hands and let out a sigh. Shinra would know what to do. Shinra was a science wizkid, surely he had an answer to this mystery.

Yuna rose from her bed and mad her way to the cockpit. The sun beamed through the windows and nearly blinded Yuna when she walked in. While she didn't fall over (Thankfully), she did stumble a little before regaining her balance and making her way towards Shinra. "Hey Shinra!" Yuna said with enthusiasm which was met with a grunt. That was what everyone got recently. Shinra had been working on something big, something that would provide Spira with clean energy. Yuna didn't have a clue in the slightest how he was trying to do this, but he would have to hold on for a moment. "I was wondering whether you would help me with something?" she asked which made Shinra sigh and turn to face her "Go on." he grumbled. Yuna clasped her hands together and thanked him before telling him about her dream.

"That is strange, but the stranger something is the more interesting it becomes. Now what do you need my help with?" Shinra asked her to which she replied "Well, I think I know who one of the men are. I think it's him." "You mean the one from the other world?" "Yes exactly. I thought that maybe you would know whether this means that he could return." Yuna explained. Shinra paused for a moment while he thought. Finally he nodded "More data would be needed to collected to make a conclusion on your hypothesis. Fortunately there's a way to collect more data and we have all the right equipment to find this data. The dress sphere reacts to the emotions of it's previous wearer, however since that Lenne girl is now gone the dress sphere reacts to your emotions. Sometimes when the emotion is strong enough an image will be created, whether it be a person you are emotionally attached to or even an object. That image, whatever it may be, can only be of something that can exist on our world. Therefore if this person of yours appears he will be able to return."

"So it's like when I sang at the Thunder Plains then? All I have to do is sing about him and an image will appear." Yuna said with high hopes. Her mind was made up, she would hold another concert. Yuna told Rikku, Paine and Tidus about her idea and asked them to try and spread the word that the concert would be held at the stadium in Luca. While Rikku and Tidus agreed to help because they were happy to, Paine agreed to help but not because she was happy to rather because Yuna needed her help. Yuna couldn't say she wasn't surprised, after all Paine never knew... well you know.

!~!

Yuna's first stop was Besaid. It always made her happy visiting this place and not just because it was her home, but because of the people. She grew up in Besaid so the towns people didn't go crazy whenever they saw her. It was a place where she could relax and be herself and not have to worry about the way she acted or her appearance. "Heeeey!" a voice shouted from the village. Yuna instantly identified it as Wakka's voice. The big ginger man ran to her and gave her a big, squeezing hug. "Hi, Wakka!" Yuna said with a hint of laughter in her voice. "What brings ya back to Besaid?" he asked curiously which she replied "Well, I'm holding another concert and I'm just spreading the word around. I'll explain it all in more detail later when me you and Lulu can sit down." "Ok. I'll help you out, ya?"

!~!

That was just about everybody in the village. It was time to sit down and have a chat with Wakka and Lulu. "So you think this concert will help us find out if returning to Spira is an option for Clou-" Wakka said before being interrupted by Lulu stepping on his foot. Normally Yuna would laugh at how similar Tidus and Wakka were, but she just couldn't. Why did she get so emotional whenever his name was mentioned? She had never been like this about anything before. What was she going to do if he couldn't return? What was she going to do if his face did appear? This was something she had to get over and she wasn't going to achieve that by avoiding the name. "Sorry Yuna." Wakka apologised and Yuna shook her head "There's no need to be sorry. I need to stop getting so emotional and to do that I have to at least start by saying his name. To answer your question, yes. If an image of him is created... Cloud can return."

It was strange, saying Cloud's name didn't make her burst into tears as she thought it would. Perhaps the thought of saying his name would bring back all the pain and sadness from when he left is what made her think this. In fact saying his name did the exact opposite. Memories of laughter and happiness were brought to her mind, she remembered the good memories. Lake Macalania, the Calm Lands, Besaid, all of them. "Suppose the image of Cloud does appear, then what? How will you bring him back?" Lulu asked which was a good point that Yuna had already been thinking about. "Actually I thought that maybe those holes where the fayth used to be could connect our worlds. When we fought Vegnagun we were in another realm, so maybe one of the holes could lead us to Gaea." Yuna told them which seemed to be the only idea any of them had. Lulu still wasn't happy though "But which hole? It's too dangerous to just randomly pick one." she said. Once again Yuna had already given this some thought "I think I already know which one it is. Cloud was transported to Besaid first, so that must mean the hole in our temple connects to Gaea." she said which after a bit of thought Lulu agreed with. "Then I guess we'll see you at the concert. Tomorrow at Luca 19:00, right?" Lulu reconfirmed which Yuna nodded at.

!~!

It was the day of the concert and Yuna was both excited and nervous at the same time. Rikku managed to get the word to Kimahri who instantly agreed to come. Yuna and Kimahri had such a special connection, however it wasn't just that that made him agree to come. He and Cloud had developed quite a strong bond, so if there was any way of bringing him back Kimahri would be over the moon. The five of them stepped out of the airship and were immediately bombarded with people. "Please sign this!" "I love you so much!" "You're my idol!"

It was hard for the group to move around however the combined efforts of Kimahri and Paine got them to the stadium in one piece. "I'm sooo excited!" Rikku exclaimed while she jumped all over the place. Pretty much everyone was in a good mood. "This guy must've been pretty special for you all to be so happy." Paine said to which Rikku replied "Special!? Big C was more than just special! Isn't that right Yunnie!" which made Yuna giggle. "Cloud was something else. From everything to the way he spoke to the glow in his eyes, he was amazing." Yuna sighed "Not to mention he's probably the best person to have wielded a sword in the whole of existence!" Tidus declared which made Paine raise her eyebrow. "Hm. I beg to differ." she said which lead to Tidus defending Cloud. Eventually they reached an agreement that as soon as he returned Paine and Cloud would have a sword fight to determine who was the best.

The group had made their way to backstage where the crew would help Yuna set up. While Yuna was getting her make up done the others lounged around and told Pain about Cloud's adventures on Gaea. Eventually Wakka and Lulu showed up and once again Wakka's actions showed how much a like he and Tidus were as the process of Wakka defending Cloud as the best swordsman who ever lived occurred again. Everyone laughed and joked around which brought a sense of nostalgia. Yuna couldn't remember the last time everyone was together like this, but she knew she missed it. Maybe she should do concerts more often.

!~!

Yuna had performed nearly all of her songs now and still nothing had appeared. There was one song left, one last chance. As she began the song she put all of her emotion into her vocals. Her voice resonated through out the entire stadium and as the song went on the crowd only got louder. Lights flashed all around the stadium and everyone was mesmerised by the lyrics Yuna had written herself. The song reflected her relationship with Cloud and how she was dealing with the loss of his presence. Still there was nothing and she was on her final line of the song. Suddenly as she sang the first few words her dress sphere began to glow and react to her emotions. "I still run, I still swing open the door! I still think, you'll be there like before! Doesn't everybody out there know to never come round! Some things a heart won't listen to, I'm still holding out, for you!"

As Yuna sang her final elongated note pyreflies and green streams swirled around in the stadium. They moulded together and the more they moulded the brighter they got. When the lights began to dim, it was there. There was no doubt about it, that was Cloud. He was looking into the distance clutching a locket while standing on an overhanging cliff. It was the same locket Yuna had, Cloud had given it to her in the Calm Lands so they would never forget each other. At the time Yuna didn't understand why he did it, but after he left it didn't take a rocket scientist to understand. As the music faded so did the image of Cloud and when it was finally gone Yuna couldn't stop herself. She fell to her knees and let out tears. Despite the tears she was not sad, she was crying tears of joy. Cloud could return.

Yuna regained her composure and politely thanked everyone for coming then headed backstage. Upon entering she was tackled to the floor by Rikku who was beaming with excitement. "Big C can come back! I'm so happy right now!" she screamed and Yuna couldn't help but smile and giggle. They rolled around on the floor with joy and glee as did everybody else, everybody apart from Kimahri Lulu and Paine. They were too composed for this. Although Kimahri and Lulu both had big smiles on their faces which was a rare sight indeed. Paine also had a smile, though it was more of a 'I'm happy for you' type of smile.

When everyone settled down Yuna told them about her theory that the hole in Besaid connected Spira to Gaea. "I suggest we leave ASAP!" Rikku exclaimed which Tidus seconded. Everyone was getting too ahead of themselves and Lulu said "Hold on. We need to decide who can go." "Yeah me an' Lu have to take care of Vidina, so that counts us out." Wakka pointed out glumly. "Kimahri must also stay. Elder Ronso cannot be gone for too long. Ronso tribe need guidance." Kimahri said which left Yuna Rikku Paine and Tidus. There were no more comments which meant that was the final party. "Alright then, I suggest we head back to Besaid. You four can get some rest then head out on your journey, ya?" Wakka suggested which nobody argued with. Everyone was tired and Yuna had waited 2 years and 2 months for this, she could wait another day.

!~!

As Yuna lay there in her bed a smile crept on her face. All she could think about was seeing Cloud's face today. His face had a sad expression, almost depressing. While this was obviously a bad thing Yuna couldn't help but smile more. Cloud hadn't forgotten about her, he missed her just as much as she missed him. "Hey Yuna." Yuna was pulled out of her daydream. It was Paine which puzzled her. "Hi Paine! What's up?" Yuna asked to which Paine replied "Nothing, I just came to sleep. I guess with all that's happened today you forgot I was sleeping in your hut tonight.". How could Yuna forget!? "Oh! I'm sorry!" she apologised hastily however Paine told her not to worry about it.

Quickly Yuna set up a bed for Paine to sleep on. Paine jumped on the bed and lied down with her hands behind her head. "So this, Cloud guy, you two are serious?" Paine asked which Yuna found odd. Paine never really took an interest in things like this "Yeah, I guess we are. Why do you ask?" Yuna replied. Paine paused for a moment then said "It's just, everyone today got so happy when they saw him. I never really took an interest when you told me about him and I didn't know he meant this much to you, so I wanted to make up for that." which made Yuna smile.

After talking to Paine about Cloud for around 30 minutes they finally decided to get some rest. They had a big day ahead of them and they needed all the energy they could get.

"Jenova?"

"That's right Cloud. She's back."

"And she's the cause of this 'Mako Madness' you told me about?"

"Exactly."

"Why should I believe you? I have mako inside of me and I haven't been affected by it."

"That's something we are unable to tell you. If we could we would, but your blood has an anomaly in it. It's not the same as all of the other members of SOLDIER who have been bathed in mako."

"Always me, huh."

Yuna was awoken from her dream by Paine. She was shaking her and telling her to wake up. "Yuna! Finally. You could sleep through the apocalypse! We're ready to leave." Paine informed her as she handed Yuna some breakfast cooked by Lulu. Quickly Yuna ate the food, had a shower and met Tidus and Rikku with Paine at the temple. Wakka and Lulu were also waiting for them. "You stay safe out there young lady! Don't talk to anyone you don't know! And make sure-" Wakka was interrupted once again by the stomp of Lulu's foot "Just be careful Yuna." she said calmly. Lulu and Wakka gave her a hug and before she knew it Yuna was on her way with Paine Rikku and Tidus to Cloud's world, Gaea. "Everyone ready?" Yuna asked to which everyone nodded. After a double check that they had everything they needed the four of them jumped down the hole.

!~!

Rikku slowly opened her eyes. She was in a dark place. Buildings surrounded her and the air was musty. The air smelt awful. She had been to some Al Bhed factories before but none of them smelt as bad as this. Tidus was next to her who was slowly getting up, but Yuna and Paine were gone. "Where's Yunnie and Paine?" she asked Tidus who replied "I dunno. We were the only ones here." as he helped her up. They looked around and saw a sign in the distance. "7th Heaven" it read. "That place looks like a bar. If we go there maybe the bar tender will tell us where we are." Rikku suggested which Tidus agreed to.

As they walked to the bar the two of them saw a gang of men on the path. The gang saw the two and approached them. "Now where are we off to?" one said as the rest circled them. Tidus took a defensive stance and stepped in front of Rikku "Why don't you go somewhere else and leave us alone!" Tidus threatened with sword in hand. The gang member that spoke snapped his fingers and two of the men grabbed Tidus from behind. They were much too strong for Tidus too break free, he needed help. Rikku pulled out her daggers and threw one at one of the men holding him which slashed him across the eye. Just as she was about to throw a second she found a fist in her face. Rikku was knocked to the ground then the gang member kicked her in the stomach for good measurement. "Hey!" Rikku heard as two woman, one dressed in black the other wearing a purple belly top, ran towards them. In no time at all every single one of the gang member were knocked out cold on the ground. "Are you alrig-" the woman in black said before gasping. The one with the belly top then exclaimed "Hey, aren't they..." however Rikku didn't hear the rest as she passed out.

!~!

When Rikku woke up she was in a nice warm bed. As she sat up the room span. "Be careful, you took a pretty hard hit." Tidus said gently as he helped her sit upright. "Where are we?" she asked to which Tidus grinned "You'll never believe who saved us. It was Tifa and Yuffie! We're in Tifa's bar!"

Rikku's face lit up and she forgot about her dizziness. Instantly she got up and ran out of the room. She could hear voices down stairs and she zipped down like she was in a 100m sprint. Whizzing round the corner she saw three faces, Tifa, Yuffie and Marlene. "I can't believe it's really you guys!" Rikku exclaimed as she ran to them hugging them all tight. The three laughed with her and Tifa said "Cloud will be so happy that you are here!"

Rikku let them all go and asked "Where is Cloud?" "Denzel just went to get him, he should be back any moment now." Yuffie replied. Tidus had finally made it down the stairs and said "Thanks again for saving us. We thought we were goners!" Tifa simply smiled "That's all right. It's what we do. Anyway you two must be hungry, I made you some breakfast."

Rikku and Tidus scoffed down the food Tifa had made for them. Cloud didn't lie, her food was simply marvellous! Rikku put her dish into the 'dishwasher' as Tifa called it and when into the living room. She saw Marlene sitting on the couch and took a seat next to her. "Hi!" Rikku beamed and Marlene smiled and shyly said hi back. Rikku tried to make conversation with Marlene and slowly she began to open up. Soon enough the two were playing together and running around in the backyard.

As the two played they heard the front door open and close which made them exchange looks. They both ran back inside and found Denzel entering the bar. "Denzel!" Rikku proclaimed as she ran up to him and gave him a hug which made him turn red. "Denzel did you bring Cloud?" Tifa asked and Denzel shook his head just how Cloud would andsaid "No, he wasn't in the church, but I left a note for him." "Alright then, I'll try and give him a call. Why don't you go and play with Marlene and Rikku?"

!~!

Rikku had been waiting all day and Cloud still hadn't appeared, frankly she was getting frustrated. During dinner Rikku and Tidus got to know the others better and exchanged stories. There were quite a few laughs. To be honest Rikku didn't think she would find it this easy to be so comfortable around them so fast. After they had had dinner they headed for bed. With the obvious lack of rooms Rikku and Tidus were forced to sleep in Marlene and Denzel's room but she didn't mind.

Rikku was just worried about Yuna and Paine. Were they all right? Were they together? Did they have a place to stay? So many questions so many concerns. At least she and Tidus were all right. The only thing that would make things better would be the appearance of her blonde spiky haired friend, Cloud


	2. Old Friends

_**Old Friends**_

Heavy footsteps echoed through the church. Cloud walked down the isle of the church and stopped dead in his tracks at the start of the flower bed. There was a girl lying there. As she stood Cloud recognised her. His jaw dropped and he muttered "It can't be...Yuna?". The girl turned to face him and she smiled. "I'm here to stay, if you'll have me." she said softly to which Cloud instantly said "Of course not!" which made her turn away quickly. "How could I?" he asked rhetorically as he too turned around. There was a moment of silence and as the girl turned to face him once again he looked over his shoulder and muttered "You're not real..."

Cloud turned around to find he was alone. He looked all around him and he was indeed the only person in the church. With a big sigh Cloud walked over to his sleeping mat and noticed a note on top of his materia trunk. Curiously Cloud picked up and read the note. It was from Denzel. Tifa needed to speak to him and it was urgent. Rikku and Tidus were at 7th Heaven... His eyes widened and he immediately ran back outside. Fenrir was waiting for him just outside. Without hesitation he started the engine and rode straight to 7th Heaven. While he was driving he said "If Rikku's here, does that mean...Yuna is here?" only silence followed which puzzled Cloud. "Zack? Aerith?" Cloud called until he realised, they were gone. It had been over two years since they had left but Cloud was so used to them being there that he often forgot.

Rikku was woken up by the sound of the front door closing and the sound of a man's voice calling out for Tifa. She rubbed her eyes and blinked. Slowly the realisation kicked in. As fast as lightning Rikku jumped up out of her sleeping bag and charged down the stairs.

There was no one up and Cloud didn't blame them. It was 8am but after he called Tifa's name he heard footsteps whizzing down the stairs. He had assumed it was Denzel or Marlene, however when Rikku turned the corner Cloud's mouth dropped open. "Cloooud!" Rikku exclaimed as she jumped on him and wrapped her legs around him hugging him with the tightest grip ever. It wasn't very often that Cloud smiled these days but he couldn't hold this one back. "How did you get here?" Cloud asked as he embraced the hug "I'll explain everything in a second but you have to come and see Tidus first!"

Cloud was confused by this "Tidus? I thought he vanished along with the fayth." to which Rikku shook her head "Like I said I'll explain everything to you in a second." she said as she loosened her grip and jumped down taking Cloud's arm and leading him to Tidus.

!~!

When Yuna came to she found herself in some kind of forest. It wasn't like the ones she was used to, the trees were white and there was a sort of holy aura around the place. As she stood up she noticed a building in front of her, it reminded her of a temple. In front of the temple there was a pool of water. Yuna couldn't help but find this place familiar. Slowly she made her way to the temple making sure she was alone.

Upon entering the room spiralled upwards. Yuna followed the path and found a strange structure with in the temple. There was a sculpture of a fish surrounded by seaweed. Yuna reached out to touch it, however she was stopped in her tracks by the sound of a deep spine chilling voice. "Stop right there." the man said and as Yuna turned to him he made a sound with a surprised expression. He was dressed in red and black, it seemed as though he had a metallic gold arm and his eyes were redder than blood. After taking in the details of Yuna's face he lowered his gun and pulled out a strange device from his pocket. It looked like some sort of machina, it was a rectangular shape and the man types something in before putting it to his ear.

"I think I've found her." the strange man said. Slowly Yuna reached for her gun and as the man put the strange device back in his pocket she pulled the gun out on him. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" Yuna asked putting all of her intimidation into her tone. Unfortunately the man just grunted and said "I'm not your enemy. It's not a surprise you don't know me, I didn't really talk much in those recordings. I just spoke to Cloud, he wants me to bring you to him in Midgar."

Yuna quickly put her gun away after realising that the man was Vincent Valentine, a friend of Clouds. So she really was on Gaea. "I'm sorry! I didn't realise!" Yuna said quickly apologising for her behaviour. "That's all right. Now let's get goin- Did you hear that?" Vincent said as voices could be heard from outside. "Stay low and stay ready." Vincent told Yuna as they tread lightly outside of the temple. There were two men there. They wore a similar outfit to Cloud actually and they carried a sword identical to each others. Vincent took out his gun and held his breath. he waited for the two to line up in front of each other before he shot his first bullet. One bullet was all he needed as it went through both of their heads.

"Who were they?" Yuna asked and Vincent replied "Members of SOLDIER. Something is happening to them. It's almost as if their minds are being altered in some way and not for the better. There have been rumours of murder and even mutilation, but Shinra completely denies everything." "What's causing it?" Yuna followed up and Vincent didn't reply. Yuna figured it was because he didn't have an answer.

They walked in silence for a bit until Vincent said "Cloud will want to see you as soon as possible, I'll call Cid and tell him to meet us at Bone Village."

!~!

As Tifa put down the phone she approached Cloud, Rikku and Tidus who were sitting in the living room. "Vincent called. He says he's found Yuna and he's bringing her here as soon as he can." She informed them which brought a smile to Cloud's face. Tifa hadn't seen one of those in a while. Rikku and Tidus still didn't seem content though.

"There was also someone else who came with us, a girl called Paine. She's got short silver hair and wears all black clothing." Rikku said sounding worried. Cloud hated seeing his friends in such discomfort and said "I'll make a few calls," before pausing. He knew Rikku and the others wouldn't like what he was about to say but this was something more important than catching up with old friends. "I have to go talk to Rufus, he wanted to tell me something important." he continued which just as he suspected caused uproar.

"It's been over two years Cloud! Why can't you stay for a bit longer?" Rikku protested and while it was tempting for Cloud to simply stay, he couldn't. "Look. I'm sorry, but this can't wait."

"Is it to do with the SOLDIER members?" Tifa asked and Cloud nodded confirming her suspicion. "I have to go. Tifa will you explain it to them while I'm gone?" Cloud asked her which she agreed to. Rikku and Tidus watched him as he walked outside and they could hear an engine start up before the sound slowly got quieter and quieter until only the sound of people on the streets could be heard.

"I guess I should tell you what's been going on recently then. Members of SOLDIER have been changing as of late, Shinra is unable to control them. From what Cloud has told me, the mako inside their bodies is doing something to their minds," Tifa explained which raised more questions than it answered. Upon seeing Rikku and Tidus's confused faces she said "According to Rufus this is the work of Jenova. I'm guessing you are familiar with her. The reason Cloud had to leave was so he could find out why he hasn't been affected by this 'Mako Madness' as the people are calling it."

"So this, Mako Madness, this is causing SOLDIER members to what, attack people?" Tidus asked and Tifa replied "Well some would call attack and understatement, but yeah that's the general idea."

Rikku was still upset about the whole situation, but it was for the greater good. Typical Cloud, always thinking of others. From the bar a noise could be heard, a ringing noise. Rikku was a fast learner and recognised it as a phone. "I'll get that." Tifa said as she left the room leaving Tidus and Rikku alone.

"You ok?" Tidus asked her to which she replied "Yeah, I guess so," letting out a sigh as she did. "I just thought we would have a little bit more time with Cloud." Rikku continued which made Tidus wrap his arm around her. "It's fine. Think about it, when Cloud comes back with us to Spira we'll have all the time in the world to hang out." Tidus pointed out which made Rikku feel a little bit better.

Tifa walked back in and said "I have some good news! Your friend, Paine, has been found! She's with Red in Cosmo Canyon. I'll call Cid and tell him to pick her up after he's got Yuna and Vincent."

!~!

Cloud jumped off of Fenrir and made his way up the spiral staircase. He pushed the door of Rufus's hideout open and walked in to find Rufus Reno and Rude waiting for him. "Have you finished analysing the sample you took from me?" Cloud asked getting straight to the point and skipping greetings. Rufus walked to Cloud and shook his hand saying "Tseng and Elena are in the back, they've been working on it. I suggest we go and check on their progress."

The four of them walked into the back room and just like Rufus said the two remaining Turks were there analysing Cloud's blood sample. "What have you found?" Rufus asked them and when they saw Cloud they glanced at each other. All of a sudden Tseng tackled Rufus, Reno and Rude to the ground. Cloud's instincts kicked in and he drew his fusion sword blocking all of the bullets Elena shot at him. When her mag had ran out of bullets he swung his sword and cut the pistol in two. "Are you insane!?" Cloud shouted which gave Elena and Tseng a confused expression.

"This can't be right." Tseng muttered as he and the other three stood up. Rufus moved next to Cloud and apologised knowing full well Cloud was barely able to work with them. Cloud knew they needed him so he held all of the cards. "Just what in hell was that all about?" Rufus asked the two Turks who explained the readings from Cloud's blood. "Cloud has very high amounts of mako intensity in his blood, they're off the charts." Tseng explained "When we saw the readings we thought the worst. We assumed he had Mako Madness, but clearly we were wrong. This means the tests came back with no answer as to why Cloud isn't affected." Elena continued.

Cloud wasn't surprised by the high mako levels. He had had mako poisoning twice and he had fallen into the lifestream, it was just kind of obvious to him. Rufus and the Turks puzzled for a moment until Rufus finally asked "Tell me, Cloud. I know this is a touchy subject, but while you worked for Shinra were any, ah, experiments carried out on you?" which Cloud mused at. They asked this question as if it were normal, typical Shinra, even more so that the answer was yes. "After the Sephiroth incident in Nibelhiem Hojo took me, Zack and a few other survivors. Most of the other subjects died from the high dosages of tainted mako and while I did survive I was in a vegetated state for over 2 weeks, it would've been a lot longer if not for..." Cloud said trailing off at the end. "Then that must've been just over eight years ago. And you were experimented on for 5 years correct?" Rufus asked to which Cloud nodded. Rufus then snapped his fingers and all four members of the Turks ran to go and do something, Cloud assumed they were getting records and files of that five year period.

Rufus put his arm around Cloud and said "I am sorry for all of the trouble the Shinra company has caused you, you know." "Tch. Don't speak to me like I'm one of your friends. Just because we're working together now doesn't mean anything has changed from before." Cloud responded stepping away from Rufus. He then proceeded back into the front room and made his way to the door. "We'll call you as soon as we have some answers." Rufus said as Cloud walked outside. He could still hear him speaking, but he didn't care and slammed the door shut.

!~!

Paine's introduction to Gaea could've been better. When she first woke up she saw some red talking cat dog creature sniffing her face. At the time she thought it was some kind of fiend so he punched it on the snout however now she knew that it was Nanaki (Red, as the rest of AVALANCHE called him). This didn't get them off to the best of starts however after spending a couple of days waiting for this 'Cid' character their relationship was a lot better.

Paine was sat in the middle of Cosmo Canyon where the campfire roared. She noticed Red coming towards her and he remarked him. "Cid will be here any moment now, are you ready?" Red asked her and she nodded. There was a moment of silence and eventually Paine asked "So this Vincent guy will be on the airship with Yuna?" "Yes. Don't worry you can trust those two, Yuna is in good hands." Red said however as soon as those words left his mouth the airship came zipping past. Smoke was coming from one of the propellers and rather than landing smoothly it hit the ground and slid across the surface of the ground just outside of the entrance to the canyon. Red made a face and sighed "Why do I even bother?"

Yuna, Cid, Vincent and... a toy cat walked up the path that lead to the canyon's entrance. "Uh, hey Red! I'm gonna need some tools!" Cid said trying to sound innocent to which Red just grunted and said "Follow me."

Yuna ran to Paine and hugged her. She was so happy to finally see some one she knew. "What's with the cat?" Paine asked her which made her laugh. Yuna explained that it was called Cait Sith and was controlled by a man named Reeve.

!~!

After catching up with Paine and talking to Red about the history of Cosmo Canyon Cid finally finished working on the airship and they were ready to leave. "How long until we get to Midgar?" Yuna asked who was eager to get to Cloud. Cid puffed out his cheeks and said "I guess maybe a day. Will you be comin' with us Red?" "Why not? I haven't seen Cloud since the Geostigma incident, so it might be nice to catch up." Red replied which puzzled Yuna. "Geostigma?" she asked in a confused tone and Red then explained to her that it was a deadly disease that broke out however after Cloud beat Sephiroth again everyone was cured.

They all got on the airship and Yuna continued their discussion "So none of you have seen Cloud for at least 6 months?" Yuna asked to which Cid nodded while steering the airship. "Yeah. After the battle of Midgar while project Deepground was going on I didn't see him again. Not many of us have seen him, to be fair." "When Cloud found me he didn't stick around for long either." Vincent chipped in. Yuna looked down and then asked why he hadn't been in contact, the response was from Red who explained "We don't know, no one knows why he has re-framed from contacting anyone."

Yuna looked out of the window and viewed the night sky. Stars lined the black sky and she pondered whether the reason was because of her. There was also the matter of Aerith and Zack, they had disappeared along with the fayth so perhaps he was mourning the loss of them for the second time. Yuna wouldn't know unless she asked Cloud himself. Her eyes became heavy and she yawned covering her mouth politely. "You should get some shut eye." Cid told her but she shook her head and said "I want to take in all of the sights.". Cid chuckled and replied "You want to look at patches of forests? Get some rest and I'll wake you up when we really pass something worth lookin' at, alright?" which Yuna responded with a nod.

Yuna walked down to the living quarters of the ship and took a bed. Once again she looked out of the window, rain drops ran down the glass disdorting her view. Before she closed her eyes and went to sleep she looked at her locket. Carefully opening it she looked at the picture of Cloud inside then whispered "I'll see you soon." before closing it again and falling asleep.

!~!

"Hey Yuna!" Cid shouted which awoke Yuna from her sleep. She got to her feet and enetered the cockpit to find an amazing sight. A tower of gold stood high and proud in the centre of a desert. "The Gold Saucer." Yuna said to herself in marvel. She was amazed by the golden structure and couldn't take her eyes away from it. "In a few minutes we'll pass by Costa Del Sol as well. After that it shouldn't be long until we get to Midgar, no more than an hour." Cid informed her.

Yuna slowly walked to the window and put her hand on the glass "I'm so close to finding you..." she muttered. With excitement building she turned to Red as he made his way into the room and asked "Is it true that Cloud had to win a Chocobo race to get you all released from the desert prison?" which made Red chuckle. "It is indeed. Cloud may seem like a cold-blooded mercenary, but in actuality he would do anything to protect his friends. The cross dressing is a prime example, I assume you still remember that story." he replied which made Yuna giggle. Red was right, Cloud really did care. She just hoped that he would be at Tifa's bar when they arrived.

!~!

At last they had made it to Midgar. After crossing the ocean and fending off a few fiends they had finally made it. Cid had told her that if Cloud was here his motorbike, 'Fenrir', would be outside. Unfortunately there was no bike. Yuna looked down and her face dropped. "Hey, chin up kiddo. He'll be here soon, all we have to do is call him and this time he'll answer because he knows what the call means." Cid reassured her which put a smile back on her face. Despite being the tough guy that he was Cid was really understanding.

The five of them, Yuna, Paine, Cid, Red and Vincent, entered Tifa's bar where Yuna and Paine were tackled to the floor instantly by an energetic Rikku. "I'm so happy you're both all right!" she exclaimed and upon hearing the commotion Tidus came round the corner and joined the pile. The four were laughing with each other while Cid, Red and Vincent awkwardly stood waiting for Tifa, scratching their heads looking around, whistling, anything to avoid the happy, goofy reunification.

Once everyone introduced each other and they were acquainted they just lounged around in the living room. Marlene and Denzel weren't in which disappointed Yuna. They had gone to the church in case Cloud went there. After a few minutes Yuna stepped out and walked up the stairs to investigate the bar. To her right and in front of her were bedrooms, however to her left there was a different room. It looked like an office of some sort.

As Yuna entered she was drawn to a desk that had dozens of research papers on it as well as some framed pictures. The first was a picture of Cloud, Tifa, Denzel and Marlene almost like a family photo. The second was of the entire AVALANCHE crew. Inspecting the papers questions were raised in her mind. There was that reoccurring word coming up, 'Geostigma'. This was the disease that plagued Gaea after the destruction of Meteor. Moving on there were some notes in familiar hand writing, it was Cloud's.

 _"Still nothing. I've been trying to find a way back for 2 years now. Is there even a way? Even if there is a way, what about Gaea? What about AVALANCHE? What about Denzel and Marlene? I can't just leave them. Spira or Gaea? The love of my life or my family and friends? What am I going to do?"_

Yuna hadn't considered that Cloud might want to stay. The points he raised were good. What was he going to do about AVALANCHE, Marlene and Denzel? Yuna didn't realise that it was such a hard decision for Cloud until now. Yuna could hear some yelling downstairs then she heard "Everyone get over here!"


	3. On The Move

_**On The Move**_

Cloud entered the church and saw Denzel and Marlene waiting for him. As he stepped on the hard wooden floor the two turned their heads towards him and ran to him giving him a hug as they reached him. "Cloud! There's something you need to see!" Marlene exclaimed and Denzel capitalised with "Yeah! Yuna's at the bar! Tifa just told me on the phone!" which made Cloud's lips flicker.

Cloud couldn't hold back the smile and he crouched down to meet them at eye level. "Well then what are we waiting for? Let's get to the bar!" he enthused however they were interrupted. The doors of the church were kicked open and three people stood at the entrance. As they walked in further their appearance became more clear and while their faces weren't familiar, the uniform definitely was. SOLDIER uniforms, first class uniforms in fact.

"Run!" Cloud shouted to Denzel and Marlene as he drew his fusion sword and quickly blocked an incoming attack. Another member jumped in and swung his sword which Cloud stepped backwards to avoid. A lower attack then came in from the first member which Cloud barely blocked. The two members were working as a unit which put Cloud on the defensive, there was no way to turn the fight around. There was also another concern on Cloud's mind, what was the third member doing? After some quick thinking Cloud slid along the floor and went in between the two members which caused them both to attack at the same time. At the last possible moment Cloud jumped over them both which made them slash each other across the chest. There was no time for celebration. Cloud spotted the third member running to the exit carrying the case full of materia. That materia could not fall into the wrong hands. Quickly Cloud defused one of the smaller blades of the sword and threw it at the member which then impaled his back causing him to fall to the floor.

Cloud ran to the case and opened it. Empty. Another member must've sneaked in and switched the cases. "Shit!" Cloud said under his breath. As fast as he could he ran to Denzel and Marlene. "Are you two all right?" he asked and they responded by nodding. "I'm taking you two to the bar. Lock the doors and stay in there, only answer to Tifa. You got it?" Cloud said and once again they nodded.

!~!

"Everyone get over here!" Tifa yelled urgently. It wasn't long before everyone gathered around and realised what was going on. People outside were running away for their lives as SOLDIER members with Mako Madness ran through the city. "We need to get out there!" Rikku exclaimed which nobody disagreed with. They all ran outside to the centre of the sector where most of the members were. Cid and Red (who had Cait Sith on his back) took the left side Tifa Vincent and Yuffie took the centre which left Yuna, Rikku and Paine who took the right.

There were a lot of members however Yuna noticed there were no first class members judging by the uniform colours. The battle went on for a while, but after a few minutes all of the members retreated for some reason. In the very centre there was a monument dedicated to the Meteor crisis and on top of that monument stood a 1st class member. He raised his arm in the air and something shot into the sky. Did he just use a summon materia?

"Oh shit!" Cid shouted, Yuna also noticed the others from AVALANCHE had worried looks. "What's going on?" Yuna asked to which Tifa said "They just summoned Bahamut Zero! Only Cloud should have that summon which means they stole it from him!"

Bahamut hovered in the sky and shot a huge energy ball at the group which sent them all flying. While they were on the ground Bahamut was about to strike again until he was stopped by several bullets. "What the hell is goin' on? Marlene better be safe!" Barret said as he entered the battle to save everyone. "It's a long story." Red said "Tell me later. Now let's go kill that thing!" Barret replied as they all ran in to fight the ultimate summon.

Yuna, Vincent and Barret had taken high ground in order to shoot Bahamut from a distance while those skilled in close combat took Bahamut closer. Not everyone attacked at the same time though. When someone showed signs of fatigue someone jumped in to take their place so that they could rest and heal up. The tactic was going well until Bahamut got really angry. He flicked his tail at the pillar that Yuna was standing on and followed through hitting Rikku Paine and Tifa which sent the four of them to the floor. Furthermore he followed up with sending an energy ball at them which YRP managed to get away from fairly quickly by going right. Tifa went left and barely dodged it however the energy ball hit a building on the left which sent dibris falling down directly above Tifa. "Tifa!" Yuna shouted as the three girls were then encountered with the 1st class SOLDIER member that summoned Bahamut.

Cloud saw a scene of chaos and destruction. Images of Zack and Aerith came to his mind when he saw Tifa, Yuna, Rikku and this Paine girl. He may have been too weak to help them but no matter what he was not going to let those girls die. Cloud took out his fusion sword and threw it at the member which cut him down and turned the heads of the three girls in his direction. The sword span around and came back to Cloud like a boomerang which he then used to cut through the falling debris. As fast as lightning he dodged all of the debris and picked up Tifa putting her on the back of the motorbike. "Sorry it took me so long, I had to put Denzel and Marlene in the bar." Cloud apologised to Tifa who shook her head "That's all right. You know, Yuna is here." "Yeah I know. Do me a favour, when I fight Bahamut keep those three out of danger." Cloud said which Tifa agreed to.

When Cloud dropped Tifa off she ran to the three girls and as she did Cloud made eye contact with Yuna. The two exchanged a quick smile before Cloud rode into battle. He looked up and saw an energy ball heading straight for Barret. Quickly he jumped up and grabbed Barret's collar then releasing him on a pillar that was out of the line of fire. "The hell have you been!?" Barret questioned which Cloud ignored. He fused all of his swords together and dived in.

Everyone had stopped attacking and let Cloud do what he does best. Cloud swung his sword a few times and couldn't pierce the armour of Bahamut however he jumped off of him and came back down slamming his sword on him as he did which sent him flying down into the ground. Despite this Bahamut didn't stay down for long and began to ascend into the sky. Cloud jumped up in pursuit, however it was clear that he wouldn't be able to get high enough. Luckily Barret was there to help him out. "Alley oop!" Barret shouted as he grabbed Cloud's hand and threw him up. Cloud reached Bahamut and struck him however Bahamut anticipated this and blocked his attack then sent him back down to the ground. Cid was there this time to help Cloud out. He span around then as Cloud landed on his spear he put all his effort into hitting him back up. "Giddyap!" Cid shouted as Cloud shot back up into the sky. Cloud's ascend was then assisted by Red and surprisingly Cait Sith who shouted "There you go!" in that Irish accent of his. Yuffie then cuffed her hands under his boot and pushed him upwards grunting as she did. It was Vincent this time who simply grabbed Cloud's hand and threw him up saying "Fly!" in that cold voice of his. Finally Tifa grabbed his hand and said "No giving up!" as she threw him up into the sky. With one final atempt to stop Cloud Bahamut shot an energy ball at him. Cloud rose to his challenge and entered the energy ball. As he entered he heard Yuna call his name. Would that be enough for him to get through this? He could feel his strength fading. Just as he was about to pass out he saw something up ahead. There were two people waiting for him holding out their hands. Cloud blinked. Was that really them? Zack and Aerith? It didn't matter, he took their hands which filled him with strength. Feeling invincible Cloud shot out of the energy ball and dodged Bahamut's attack which gave him an opening. Cloud jammed his sword into the exposed part of Bahamut and ran along his body before taking his sword out. "Argh!" Cloud shouted as he jumped off. Bahamut dissolved into red streams and the battle was won.

As Cloud came back down to the floor he landed on his motorbike. He wasn't close to anyone so he took out his phone and called Tifa. "Tifa, get Denzel and Marlene from the bar then find a truck. Meet me at Kalm, it's not safe here anymore." Cloud told her to which she replied "Alright, but why can't you just come with us?" Cloud didn't answer straight away and Tifa could hear some grunting noises over the phone. Was Cloud fighting while driving and talking to her on the phone? "Could you hang on a second," Cloud said as more grunting could be heard. "I can't come with you because I have to talk to Rufus first, he might finally have some answers." Cloud finally said which Tifa didn't like but she had no choice "Just be careful."

!~!

Cloud entered Rufus's hideout hoping that he and the Turks had finally found something useful. "Cloud, we've been waiting for you." Rufus said a little uneasy. It wasn't like Rufus to be so shaken "What's wrong?" Cloud asked and Reno replied "Well, there's some good news." "And some bad news." Rude finished. Tseng then stepped forward explaining "The cause of the Mako Madness, it is something a lot worse than we thought. The reason the members of SOLDIER are doing these thing is because... Jenova still lives. She is commanding them through the use of her cells inside of them." Cloud just looked down. Jenova was still alive? "This is Jenova's true power? Her true self? Then how am I not affected by such a powerful being?" Cloud asked which was answered by Elena "Fortunately that is the good news, we can answer your question. As you already know you are a Sephiroth clone, therefore your Jenova cells are different from the regular SOLDIER members. This means she can't control you because they aren't her pure cells."

So one of Cloud's most traumatic experiences turned out to be his saviour. "What about Jenova? Surely if we defeat her then this will all stop, do you have any idea where she is?" Cloud asked which was met with silence. Rufus stepped forward and said "We'll work on it. Right now you should go to your friends and make sure they are safe. I assume you will also want to see this Yuna girl as well." which made Cloud scowl. "How do you know Yuna is here? How do you even know about her?" he asked demanding an answer. Rufus pursed his lips then replied "When you started working with us I had Elena keep a close eye on you. I had to make sure you weren't taken out." "You mean you wanted to spy on me in case I held back any information. This is life and death, why would I hide anything!? I'm leaving, if you find anything I expect a call." Cloud shouted as he slammed the door shut while walking out.

!~!

Yuna sat on the edge of a wall letting her legs dangle down over the side. So this was Kalm? Just as Cloud has described it, so peaceful, so old fashioned. It was certainly a big contrast compared to Midgar. Yuna had been waiting for over an hour now for Cloud to return. Why was fate being so cruel? It was like everything was against her, like the world didn't want them to reunite.

"Yuna," Tifa said from behind her "You've been waiting for a while now, I thought you might be hungry." she continued to say as she carried two plates with food on them. "Thank you." Yuna said as Tifa handed her a plate and sat beside her on the wall. The two ate in silence for a moment until Tifa said "I'm sorry Cloud couldn't come with us. Sometimes he works too hard." "That's all right, you couldn't have done anything about it." Yuna replied. She liked Tifa, she was the kind of person who would always try to help you even if there was nothing she could do or change.

"You know, Cloud didn't stop working when he got back. He's been trying so hard to find a way back to Spira, you must be special." Tifa said which made Yuna blush. "I don't know about that, but that does sound like something Cloud would do. Back on Spira he would always try his best to do what he could to help everyone out." she replied which made Tifa giggle a little. "He may act tough, but on the inside he's just like a baby chocobo. He wouldn't last two days without us!" she said which then made Yuna giggle and soon enough the two girls were in stitches.

"Hey chuckle sisters! It's late!" Barret yelled from the bottom of the wall. Tifa turned to Yuna and said "He's right let's go back to the room, alright? We can wait for Cloud there." "Ok, I guess I'll be able to get to know you all better that way anyway so it's for the best." Yuna replied as the two girls walked to the inn.

!~!

Cloud pulled up just outside of Kalm and saw a big truck. That was a relief. He sat on his motorbike for a moment and puffed out his cheeks. On the way to Kalm all he could think about was the threat of Jenova. In her true form Cloud was worried not just for the girls from Spira, but the AVALANCHE gang as well. There was also the matter of his decision to stay or leave. The girls had gotten here somehow so they must know how to get back which meant Cloud had a lot less time to decide now. Cloud closed his eyes and covered his face. "What am I going to do?"

Regaining his composure Cloud got off of his motorbike. It was the middle of the night and nobody was on the streets. Despite not seeing where his friends were, he knew exactly where they would be. Cloud walked into the inn just in front of the entrance to the town. "I'm looking for some of my friends. They booked a room here." Cloud said to the inn keeper who replied "Mr. Strife, is it? They're waiting for you on the second floor, room 2."

Cloud walked up the stairs. His heavy boots made the floor boards creek and echo throughout the inn. At last he got to the top of the stairs and opened the door of room 2. Everyone was awake and turned their heads to him as he entered. Instantly Cloud was greeted with the feeling of soft lips pressing against his own. Cloud didn't care what the others would say, He had been waiting for this moment for over 2 years now, he wasn't going to let it go to waste. "I love you!" Yuna said as tears of joy fell from her eyes. Cloud put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. One blue the other green, he had missed those eyes. He brushed his hand on her face wiping away the tears and said "I love you too."


	4. Crisis In Junon

_**Crisis In Junon**_

As the SOLDIER member walked into the room darkness fell upon him. With his hands shaking he approached his superior and knelt before him. "Sir, Cloud Strife had been found." the member said nervously which was met with laughter from the superior. He arose from his throne like chair and said in a soft yet menacing voice "Good. It's time to see what the man who defeated the great Sephiroth is capable of."

!~!

Cloud and Yuna were on the rooftop of the inn at Kalm lying next to each other, just relaxing. "A concert?" Cloud questioned as she told him the story about how she was able to track him down "I'm not surprised you went into music, your voice is very soothing." he continued which made Yuna smile. There was one thing on Yuna's mind, however and she couldn't keep it to herself any longer.

"Cloud? There's been something on my mind, can I ask you something?" she asked which gave Cloud a puzzled look. After a moments silence he nodded. Yuna told Cloud about her fight with Vegnagun and Shuyin then said "After Shuyin defeated us, something happened. Green streams of light came from the ground and a man dressed in black appeared, he saved us easily defeating Shuyin. Was that you?"

 _Cloud's thoughts_

 _Two months ago? Oh yeah, that's right. I experienced something strange back then. There was a flash of green light, it was the lifestream, it took me somewhere. I didn't know where I was or who was there, but I knew that I had to defeat the man before me. The guy looked like Tidus, maybe I did somehow travel to Spira through the lifestream._

"Did this 'Shuyin' look like Tidus a bit?" Cloud asked after recollecting the event. Yuna's reply was a yes which confirmed that Cloud had in fact travelled to Spira via the lifestream. "How was I able to return? And why couldn't I stay there? Why didn't I see you?" the questions kept flooding in from Cloud until Yuna gave him a vague answer "Maybe our stars are intertwined. You could be my Spiritual Guardian!"

Spiritual Guardian? From the look on Cloud's face Yuna could tell that he wasn't familiar with the old fable. "It's said that every summoner has the power to have a Spiritual Guardian. When the bond between a guardian and their summoner is strong enough their stars interlock and the become inseparable, the guardian will always be there to protect the summoner and can even travel from the Farplane to fulfil their duty. At least, that's how the story goes. No one has ever had a Spiritual Guardian before, so nobody really knows for sure if it's true."

"Now we know it's true," Cloud said confidence lingering in his glowing blue eyes "If I was able to travel to another planet just to protect you and save you, then there isn't any other explanation."

Yuna put her arm around him and buried her head into his chest. Cloud naturally put hand on the small of her back and embraced her. He could hear her breathing getting louder and saw that her eyes kept closing, soon enough she was asleep breathing ever so faintly through her nose. Cloud blinked and looked at the night sky. Stars shone through the darkness and the moon glowed. Two shooting stars crossed paths creating an x in the sky representing the role Cloud had just taken on. "I, Cloud Strife, will always be here to protect my summoner, my lover, Yuna." Cloud swore as the x began to fade away.

Cloud stood up with Yuna in his arms and walked back down into the Inn. He placed her in one of the beds and kissed her on the forehead. The team had rented 2 rooms and each of them had 4 beds. In Clouds room Yuna, Tifa, Denzel and Paine got the beds which left Cid, Red and himself sleeping on the floor. It seemed as though everyone was asleep which gave Cloud every reason to join them. Tomorrow he would ring Rufus and get an update on JENOVA, but right now he needed some sleep.

!~!

Just as Cloud had thought, he was the first one up in his room. Early starts came naturally to him after being with Shinra, all the soldiers were forced to get up early and after a few years of it it sticks around. Cloud gathered his things and walked out of the door to find that girl Yuna had brought along with her also walking out of her room. The two exchanged a look, a tense look. "Paine, right?" Cloud said as he held his hand out waiting for a handshake.

Paine looked at the man's glowing eyes which to her surprise were unreadable. She shook his hand firmly "That's right," his grip wasn't as tight as she thought it would be either. "Yuna's told me a lot about you, I've been told you're an even greater warrior then the legendary Sir Auron. I hope I'm not disappointed." Paine said making her statement that she wasn't just some girl, she was also a warrior of great talent. "I'll do my best." the blonde swordsman replied before heading down the stairs and out of the Inn.

Paine was already sort of disappointed. Despite seeing the great feats he accomplished against that Bahamut summon he really didn't seem like the legendary hero she had heard about. Regardless, she switched back to her task of scouting the area, something that had become natural to her over the past few years.

As she walked through the town Paine thought about her new companions. She had only really spoken to the people in her room and her first impressions on them were good. Tifa was a caring woman, however she wasn't someone to be taken for as a harmless bar tender, when spoken to wrongly she could easily reduce anyone into a pile of rubble. Of course she had already met Cid and Red on her way to Midgar. Denzel was a sweet kid and in a few years he would prove to be a fine warrior. That left the man everyone had always been talking about, Cloud. She had only spoken to him that one time earlier on and couldn't really judge his character, but what she did know was that he wasn't someone to mess with. Despite this she still felt that she could out do him. Paine was clever and quick on her feet, with the right tactics and strategical timing she thought she could take him on.

After circling the town twice Paine could confirm they were safe, for now. Before heading back in she noticed Cloud again standing one level above her in the distance. He was just staring into space, clearly he was thinking about something. Maybe there was more to Cloud than she thought.

 _Cloud's thoughts_

 _Junon, huh? I wonder if Rufus has any news on Jenova. I'll get everyone up in half an hour and we'll set of at around 10:00am, it's gonna be a long ride in those trucks. I can't even ride ahead because I'll be the vanguard. And the airship is in Midgar, it was probably destroyed by Bahamut and even if it was still in one piece it would be too dangerous to go back for it. At least I can spend some time with Yuna._

Cloud walked into the item store and gathered some supplies. "I'll take a dozen potions and a couple of tranquillisers." Cloud said to the cashier. After gaining the requested items he gave the cashier the gil and headed back to the Inn.

!~!

Cloud found it amusing watching all of them getting on the trucks with those tired looks. It took him back to the days when he would do the same, he and the other soldier would always find a way to make a joke about it. That was one of the few things that made his time with Shinra bearable.

Denzel had asked to ride with Cloud on Fenrir but Cloud had to turn him down unfortunately. Under normal circumstances he would've let him but being the vanguard meant he was the one that would take out any enemies along the way which, in Cloud's opinion, was too dangerous for an eleven year old boy, Cloud hadn't even touched a weapon until he was fifteen.

Cloud glanced behind him and saw that the two drivers, Barret and Cid, were ready to go. He revved his engine and began driving.

As they went along there were a few low level fiends that didn't challenge Cloud at all. These days there weren't really any powerful fiends apart from those in the Northern Cave, however Cloud didn't really want to go there for recreational purposes, too many bad memories.

They had been riding for a while now and with one look behind him he could see that everyone was getting a bit restless. In the distance he saw Fort Condor and signalled to Barret and Cid that they would rest there which lifted everyone's spirits a bit.

When Cloud got off of Fenrir the others were still a few meters behind him. He headed for the entrance to get them a room to stay in however he was stopped by someone, someone he had not met yet he knew who he was. "So, there's the man that defeated the great Sephiroth." the man dressed in red said.

"You're Genesis." Cloud replied too stunned to say anything else. He thought that Genesis had died long ago, what was he doing here? "Why are you here? What do you want with me?" "I'm here to kill you. It is what our Mother wishes. With you gone there will be no one who can stand in Mother's way." Genesis replied.

"Jenova? Where is she!?" Cloud didn't get a response only a sword flying towards his face. If it wasn't for his mako enhanced abilities he would've surely been hit. Cloud took his fusion sword from the scabbard in Fenrir and raised it to meet Genesis' strike. He pushed Genesis back and made some room for himself. There was no way Cloud could just take the offensive, Genesis was something he had never faced before. While he had faced Sephiroth and won, Genesis had a different kind of mako in him. Even if Genisis had never beaten Sephiroth in a fight before, if you aren't prepared for a battle there's always the possibility you will lose no matter how strong you are. One strike, two strikes, three, four and the guard goes back up. Cloud had figured out his pattern, although he had taken a hit on his right bicep to figure this out which wasn't ideal but he could now take the offensive. After the first and second attack Cloud went for it, he flipped over the top of Genesis and struck. The blow was only just blocked however this gave Cloud the advantage and he took an offensive stance. Everything was blocked, he couldn't find an opening to deliver the final blow.

"Cloud!"

"Just hold on!"

"We're here to help!"

As the AVALANCHE gang came to join him Genesis backed off and sheathed his sword. "This was only a test Cloud Strife, I know your fighting style now and the next time we meet you will not survive." he said as he vanished in a flash of red light.

!~!

As Yuna pressed the bandage down on Cloud's wounded arm he winced keeping the pain inside. Yuna sighed "Why can't you just let me use a cure on you? Or one of the potions you bought? Maybe I can-" she complained before being interrupted by Cloud who replied "Using cure will only drain you of energy and at the moment everyone is pretty tired out, I'm not risking your health. As for the potions, they're for emergencies only. This isn't an emergency, not to someone infused with mako at least."

Yuna scowled at first but after a few minutes she dropped the expression and gave in to Cloud's argument. She only worried as much as she did because of what had happened to him in the Thunder Plains during her pilgrimage. Never had she seen someone so hurt in her life, blood ran all across his body, his eyes were lifeless and his skin was as cold as ice, she couldn't bare to go through that again.

"You doin' ok Chocoboy?" Barret asked which pulled Yuna back to reality. Cloud just smirked and nodded in response. "Let me take a look at it before you bandage it up Yun." he said as he walk over to where they were sitting. With one look Barret began laughing and said "This much fuss over a tiny little cut? I thought you had mako in your blood! Don't be such a puss-" Cloud elbowed Barret in the ribs before he could finish his sentence.

Cloud then motioned with his eyes in Yuna's direction which made Barret smirk even more. He turned to Yuna and apologised for his language before walking back out of the room. "We playin' cards in a few so don't be too long blondey!" Cloud heard from outside. He looked at Yuna and saw her face trying to decide whether she wanted to kill Barret or not "Don't worry, that's just his way of saying 'get well soon'. It's tough love I guess." he explained quickly. "You mean like when Wakka would mock Tidus?" "Exactly!"

At last the bandage was on Cloud's arm, a little tight but that's what helps. "You stay here and get some rest, you need it." Yuna said firmly however Cloud didn't back down. He chuckled and replied "I'm alright. You head up to the bar and let everyone know I'm fine, I'll catch up."

As Yuna walked out of the room Cloud took out his phone and made a call. "Ah, Cloud! We've been waiting to hear from you." Rufus said which Cloud rolled his eyes at. It didn't matter what Rufus said, he wasn't interested in becoming friends with a man of such dishonour. "We arrived at Fort Condor not long ago, we should be at Junon tomorrow." Cloud informed Rufus before glancing at his wound. "There's something else you should know. When we arrived I was confronted by Genesis Rhodes, I'm sure you've heard of him." he continued which was met with a few seconds of silence.

"This is not good. Genesis is a very skilled fighter, almost as skilled as Sephiroth. I'm not worried about you, you are capable of defending yourself against such a talented warrior. As for me and the Turks, the same cannot be said." Rufus pointed out which tore Cloud. He didn't like Rufus nor did he like the Turks, but he couldn't let them just be killed. "Don't worry. At the moment Genesis is focusing on me so as long as I'm alive you've got nothing to worry about." Cloud said trying to reassure Rufus.

"Cloud! Hurry up and get yo' ass over here! We about to start the game!" Barret shouted from outside of Cloud and Yuna's room. "I gotta go, everyone's waiting for me. We'll be there in early afternoon, maybe later depending on how drunk Barret and Cid get." Cloud said before ending the call. He threw his phone on the bed and made his way to the bar where the others were waiting for him to join the game. It was about time Cloud gave them all another thrashing.

!~!

When Yuna awoke she found that Cloud was already dressed and ready to set off. "How do you get up so early?" Yuna asked as she buried her head into her pillow. Her question made Cloud chuckle and he replied "I didn't know 12:00pm was early." which caused Yuna to shoot up to her feet. "I'm sorry! You're all waiting on me!?" she said panicking and trying to do a million things all at once.

Cloud smirked, he could never get over how cute she was when she was trying to rush getting ready. "Don't worry, not everyone is up yet. Barret and Cid will be asleep for another hour at least, Rikku and Tidus decided to lie in and Yuffie is still sprawled in her bed as per usual."

Despite Cloud's words Yuna still continued to rush around which took him back to when he was with her in Djose on Spira. She had been healing the wounded for hours and hours, yet she still rushed to get ready and apologised for sleeping in.

Cloud wondered how the others were doing. He had heard Wakka and Lulu had a baby together and that they were living in Besaid away from all the fame. Kimahri was on Mount Gagazet providing guidance for the surviving Ronso. As for Auron, Cloud already knew that he was in the Farplane after witnessing him vanish into a cloud of pyreflies just before he himself left Spira as well.

"By the way, do you have any idea how to get back to Spira?" Cloud asked which was met with silence and a puzzled looking Yuna. "You mean to tell me the four of you came to Gaea without finding a way back?" Cloud continued "Well not exactly. To get here we jumped down a hole that had a high concentration of pyreflies and that was connected to the farplane. I'm assuming we need to find something similar to that, somewhere that has a strong connection with the lifestream."

There were really only two places Cloud could think of, Mideel or the Northern Cave. Before he could tell Yuna there was a knock on the door and Tifa popped her head around the door. "Hey, the others are finally ready to go. We'll be waiting outside." Cloud always admired that about Tifa, she didn't like to butt in on conversations or eves drop she was one of the few people he knew that respected his privacy.

"I guess we'll talk more about it when we get to Junon." Cloud said as he gathered his things. He didn't have that much, just the essentials; potions, remedies, food and water, etc. The two of them walked out of the room and Yuna took Cloud's hand. Still after everything she had seen Cloud do she was worried about his safety. Yuna knew that she shouldn't worry but there was always a voice in the back of her head that kept saying 'What if he doesn't make it?'

Cloud loaded his things onto one of the trucks and kissed Yuna on the cheek before jumping on Fenrir. The journey wasn't that far, it would take them an hour tops to get there as long as the way wasn't full of fiends. He revved his engine and began driving to Junon.

!~!

To Cloud's surprise there were hardly any fiends along the way which got them to Junon in just under 40 minutes. It appeared as though the town was celebrating something due to the music that could be heard all around the town. "What's this music all about? It's so upbeat!" Rikku said as she and a few of the other hyper active party members started doing a little dance. Cloud and a few others such as Vincent and Paine just sighed and tried to act like they weren't with them.

"Looks like you finally decided to show up!" Reno shouted from a distance which made Cloud sigh even louder. He and Rude made their way towards the group, half of them still dancing and goofing around. "You said you had information about Jenova?" Cloud said trying to move things forward, however Reno seemed to want to drag things along. "What no 'good to see you Reno' or 'how are you doing Reno'? Why are you so serious all the time?" he asked which caused Cloud to scowl. "I'm not interested in formalities, I just want to get this over with."

"I'll take you to Rufus, but I'm afraid your friends will have to wait here." Rude said who also seemed like he wanted to speed things along. Cloud nodded and told them he would be back soon. "Wait! What are we supposed to do?" Rikku asked clearly not content with just sitting around and waiting for Cloud. He shrugged and said "You could look around the town, learn about it's history, go on the beach?" as soon as the word beach left his mouth almost everyone rushed over to it.

Cloud was lead to an elevator he was familiar with, he used this to get to the underwater reactor. Rude swiped his Turk ID across a scanner and the elevator began to descend. "I didn't know this elevator could go down any further." Cloud confessed and Reno replied "That's because the only way to access the lower level is if you have a Turk ID, hardly anyone in Shinra knows about this."

When the doors opened there was a room with hundreds of test tubes full of different remedies on racks. Each test tube had a slightly different colour and more and more just kept appearing as Cloud made his way down the room.

Eventually Cloud saw Rufus at the very end of the room talking to a group of scientists. "Ah, Cloud. There you are." Rufus greeted as Cloud approached. "What is all this?" was Cloud's question that was answered by one of the scientists. All of these test tubes contained failed attempts at a cure for the Mako Madness. "Looks like things aren't going very well. Anyway, Rufus, what do you know about Jenova? Why did you ask me to come here?"

Rufus grinned and said "We think we know where Jenova is. Due to her influence on the mako it's most likely that she is in a place highly connected to the lifestream." "So Mideel or the Northern Cave?" Cloud responded however Rufus shook his head. "Mideel's pool of lifestream started drying up a while ago, it's almost gone. Which means the only place left is the Northern Cave." Rufus explained.

Everything was coming together. Jenova's location as well as the way back to spira had finally been revealed. "I'll head there as soon as I can." Cloud stated to which Rufus responded "I wouldn't recommend air travel, the members of SOLDIER took over Midgar remember? That means they have access to all of our technology, they'll knock you out of the sky as quickly as you get up there." Cloud nodded and made his way back to the surface.

When Cloud exited the elevator he was met with a spearing hug. "Cloud!" he heard before he was on the floor with a girl on top of him. She lifted her head from his chest and the girl seemed familiar. "Priscilla?" Cloud said in a state of daze. Cloud had saved her from a water fiend three years ago and did CPR on her. She was only fifteen at the time so Cloud found it awkward at first but he manned up and saved her life. "It's been so long! Why haven't you visited?" Priscilla asked still on top of him with her arms wrapped around him.

"I'll explain everything later," Cloud said as he stood up lifting her up as well due to the boa constrictor grip she had on him "Right now I just need to tell my friends something important. You're welcome to come along, I think they're just chilling out on the beach." he continued. "Alright, I'll come!" Priscilla replied however she **still** had her arms wrapped around him.

Cloud chuckled and said "You'll have to let go of me if you want to go." to which she sighed and replied "I'm too tired to walk. Will you carry me?" Cloud scratched the back of his head. "You didn't seem to save any trouble pulling me to the ground a few seconds ago." he said which hold on tighter and beg to be carried. Eventually Cloud gave in and picked her up which finally allowed him to make his way to the beach.

As Cloud walked down the steps with Priscilla in his arms he saw everyone playing in the sea, throwing a ball around and sun bathing, everyone minus Vincent who wasn't into this kind of stuff. They were all just having a good time, taking a break from the recent stressful events. "Guess who I found." Cloud said as he put Priscilla down. "Is that Priscilla?" Tifa asked in high spirits "You've really grown up! You must be eighteen now! Time has really flown." she continued pestering.

With Tifa's endless amount of questions Cloud managed to slip away. Everyone had swimming gear on where as Cloud was wearing his altered SOLDIER outfit, an outfit change was in order.

!~!

After Cloud had bought a pair of swimming shorts he changed out of his current attire and went back down to the beach. He wasn't worried about his things, they were in the trustworthy hands of one of the towns folk that had allowed Cloud and the party to rest in her house after they saved Priscilla.

When Cloud rejoined the group he was met by Yuna planting a kiss on his lips. He embraced her however he noticed Priscilla in the background who didn't look too happy about the kiss. It seemed like Yuna was making a statement.

Only when Cloud stepped back did he notice how much of a perfect summer body Yuna had. Yes they had slept in the same bed before but it was always dark and Cloud never really got a good look at her. He wasn't surprised to see some of the residents of the town swooning when they saw her in her full black bikini. "You look.. amazing." Cloud said still slightly awestruck. Despite the two of them being really close already Yuna always seemed to blush after someone complimented her, Cloud liked that. It meant she was a humble person and not a self abosrbed diva.

The two of them made their way over to the group's spot on the beach where some of the others were still sun bathing. One thing Cloud had noticed was that the town was a lot more active than it was three years ago. There were more market stalls, more people on the beach, more people just in general.

"Cloud!" Denzel called out gesturing for him to come and join in with the game of volleyball. "Go on." Yuna said with a smile and Cloud didn't need to be told twice. Sun bathing definitely wasn't his thing and he was glad that he could get up and do something active.

The match was a four a side with Cloud, Denzel, Tidus and Priscilla on one team and Barret, Cid, Yuffie and Rikku on the other. After the first serve his team was already a point down after Tidus came out with some crazy blitzball move. "Tidus! You can't kick the ball!" Cloud informed jokingly "What do you mean I can't kick the ball!?" was the reply. After a quick explanation of the more obvious rules they were back underway.

!~!

After many rallies the game came to an end with Cloud's team just about emerging victorious. "What!? That doesn't count! I want a do over!" Barret complained "Sorry Barret, I guess you're just not good enough." Tidus teased which cause Barret to chase after him. Everyone was laughing, the chase kind of reminded him of Wakka chasing Tidus back on Spira.

Suddenly there was a strange wailing noise that Cloud could hear. His face morphed into a more serious one as he look all around him for the source of the wailing. The sun began to disappear and grey clouds replaced it. Soft rain began to drop and the wailing kept getting louder. "Everyone get changed! Something's coming!" Cloud exclaimed with a worried tone. He recognised that wailing.

Cloud ran to the house where his thing were stored as fast as he could and changed back into his altered SOLDIER uniform. Quickly he picked up the fusion sword and ran back outside where he found the group changed and ready for battle. "What is it?" Yuna asked with her pistols drawn. Just as she did the wailing transformed into an ear bursting roar. "Weapon." Cloud replied as he took out the front blade of the fusion sword. Sure enough the black and purple beast flew over the town right on cue.

"Long range attackers do your thing and try to get it low down, I'm counting on you to lead Barret. Close range attackers get up as high as you can, try and use magic for the time being. Denzel and Marlene get all the towns people to head for the elevator, they'll be safest there." Cloud ordered as everyone ran in different directions to get in a good position. To his surprise he saw Priscilla armed with a katana blade running to get to higher ground like all the other close range attackers. He grabbed her arm and said "What do you think you're doing? You're too young to fight!" "I heard you were fifteen when you joined Shinra! So why am I too young to fight at eighteen years old!? I'm fighting and you can't stop me!" she replied before escaping Cloud's grip and joining the others. Cloud didn't like it but she was right, he couldn't stop her.

It seemed like Barret was doing well leading the long ranged attackers. Weapon had definitely dropped in altitude which meant Cloud and his team had more of a chance getting a few hits in.

Despite Weapon's constant lowering Cloud's group were still struggling to land any hits on it. There had to be some way he could bring Weapon down to the ground. He had an idea, it wasn't a good one but it was the only one he had. When Weapon came in for a swooping strike Cloud ran along the roof tops as fast as he could then launched himself into the air landing on the back of Weapon. With the two smaller blades of the fusion sword he threw them at Weapon's wings while using the rest of the sword to keep himself stable. Unfortunately for Cloud, as Weapon shrieked in pain and began losing altitude again, his sword came loose and he was launched into the side of a building that knocked him out cold.

 _It's not your time yet._

 _Don't give up now, not when everyone is counting on you._

 _Just breathe._

 _ **It's been a while. I'm sorry I took so long writing this. After I finished my exams the stress of waiting for my results kicked in and I couldn't focus, so I didn't want to put out a piece of work that was half-arsed. I also recently started college which has kept me quite busy. I can't promise that chapters will be coming out daily or weekly, but I'll do my best to get them out ASAP. Thank you for being patient!**_


	5. The Truth

_**Chapter 5 - The Truth**_

 _"So, you wanna be in SOLDIER? Hang in there!"_

 _"Were you ever in SOLDIER? You're eyes, they have a strange glow."_

 _"Don't go gettin' yo' spiky ass hurt!"_

 _"When I'm in trouble my hero will come rescue me, I want to experience that at least once. Come on! Promise me!"_

 _"Hey, bubby! You doin' ok?"_

 _"You got it big C!"_

 _"I love you."_

 _ **"Face it Cloud. All you are, is an empty puppet."**_

Cloud's eyes shot open. His head hurt, almost as if a thousand memories flooded back into his mind all at once reminding him of his duty. He was lying in a bed with Yuna lying next to him with her head against his chest and her arm over his body. In the darkness the two lay there as the sound of Yuna's soft breathing made it clear that she was fast asleep.

"She hasn't moved from your side since we put you there you know." Tifa said standing up from her chair. "What happened? Where's Weapon? Where are the others?" Cloud wasn't concerned about himself he just wanted to know whether the others were safe and if they managed to save the town's folk.

"They're all outside helping the people with the damages. We managed to drive Weapon away, but we couldn't finish the job." Tifa sounded disappointed that they hadn't been able to fully defeat Weapon. To be honest Cloud was impressed not disappointed. When was the last time they all fought against an enemy like Weapon, a year ago? It had been that long and yet a group of people who didn't have any kind of mako enhancements managed to make Weapon retreat, how can you not say that's impressive.

Tifa reached into a bag and pulled out a potion which she intended to use on Cloud before he grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Don't waste them on me, I'll be fine." "Cloud, it's normal to think about your own well-being once in a while." Tifa responded raising her voice a bit which caused Yuna to shift her body. Lowering her voice back down she continued on "All I'm saying is you need to be at 100% now that Weapon is back and Genesis has you on his hit list."

What Tifa said made a lot of sense, but other people needed it more than he did. Besides he didn't even feel all bad considering he had been knocked out. It was at this moment he noticed that Yuna's soft breathing had stopped and upon review Cloud could tell that she was awake. She was casting the Cure spell on him without his knowledge. "You shouldn't have done that, Yuna." he said letting her know the ruse was over.

"You're wrong, I should have. You're human just like the rest of us! I know that your injuries have been stopping you from fighting at your best. If you let me use cure on you ever since you got that first wound you would've easily taken out Weapon." Yuna stood up from the bed and folded her arms.

The two girls weren't happy with Cloud, this was the first time he had seen Yuna genuinely angry. After moments of silence Yuna ran out of patients waiting for an answer and stormed out with Tifa chasing after her. Before Tifa exited she said "You need to get your act together, Cloud. All we want to do is help!"

Cloud was left alone. After a few minutes he rolled up his single sleeve to reveal a discoloured infection. Geostigma.

 _Cloud's Thoughts_

 _It's not because I think I'm some kind of super human being that I don't take the potions or the cures, it's because I'm gonna die anyway. Not even Aerith could cure me of the stigma... A few days after it vanished from my arm, it just came back. That's the main reason I left everyone again, not because I couldn't find a way back to Spira, not because of the internal conflict I had on whether to stay here or go to Spira, but because I didn't want to worry my friends. They lost Aerith and I know what it's like to lose more than one friend, I don't want them to go through that. I thought it would be better for me to just get out of their lives. Until Yuna came I had no intention of speaking to anyone again, maybe it's time I continue that._

"Last time we saw you, you were a helpless little girl, where the hell did you learn to fight so well Priscilla?" Barret asked the young adult who appeared to be packing a bag. "I taught myself. And I guess Cloud kind of taught me, I watched a lot of footage of him fighting and picked up a lot of moves from him."

"So what was the music about earlier? Was there some sort of celebration?" Tifa asked continuing on the conversation. The girls dressed in a short red skirt and the top half of a yellow bikini paused. "We were celebrating because of the decrease in attacks from fiends. I was able to cut them down and eventually they realised that I was too much of a threat for them. It was peaceful while it lasted, I guess the town will go back to how it was after that Weapon attack." she sighed revealing the reason behind the celebrating.

A horn could be heard in the distance which signalled that the ship to Costa Del Sol was about to leave. "You guys go on ahead, I'll go and get everyone's favourite cocky blondy." Barret said sarcastically.

Cloud stood up from the bed and looked outside of the window of the old woman's house. He could see everyone talking, joking around. For a while he didn't move he just watched them all. It was strange, Cloud's chest was hurting and he could feel his eyes burning up. Was it the fear of death? Or could it have been the fear of never seeing all of them again?

Cloud ran his hand down his face struggling to figure out what was wrong with him. It was only him that regained the stigma, but why is that? Could it be his connection with Jenova or Sephiroth? As soon as his mind crossed the mad man's name the geostigma began to react. Cloud's left arm tensed up and he fell down onto his knees. Visions of death and destruction flashed in his mind. Fire burning relentlessly through a town and Sephiroth standing in the centre smirking at his fine work. He saw Zack and Aerith being taken away from him, his Mother crying out for help, Tifa's screams of agony.

"Yo! Chocoboy! The ship over to Costa Del Sol is leaving! Get off your slow movin' ass and let's go!" Barret shouted from outside of the room. Cloud let out some deep breaths and tried to compose himself. If he wasn't careful the others might catch on, best to stay out of the way on the ship.

!~!

Ever since they got on the ship nobody had seen Cloud. Yuna wondered what was wrong with him and why he felt like he didn't need medical attention. It made her mad, not because of Cloud's selflessness but because of how naive he was being. The more she thought the more confused she got. On Spira Cloud was smart about these things, he knew when he needed cures or potions and when he didn't. For some reason his way of thinking had changed into this unreasonable way. Something must have triggered it.

Yuna was pulled out of her thoughts and brought into reality by the sound of an overhead speaker. "We're about 30 minutes away from Costa Del Sol, please make sure you have all of your belongings."

The boat ride hadn't been that bad in all honesty. With good company even the most tedious of things can turn out to be fun and interesting. Most of the way there she spoke with the girls: Tifa, Rikku, Paine, Yuffie, Marlene and...Priscilla. For some reason the teen had decided to come along with them to 'help out'. It was obvious she was only interested in getting closer to Cloud. Yuna knew she shouldn't worry about other girls trying to take Cloud away from her, he was too loyal to do anything like that.

After almost an hour Cloud finally decided to show his face. Yuna was relieved to see that he was ok, but she was still kind of mad at him so she made her way over to him with mixed emotions.

"What were you doing for so long?" Yuna stood next to him as he leaned on the rail of the ship. "I needed some time to rest, I guess I'm not as pain resistant as I think I am." Cloud replied with his eyes fixed on the horizon. While the mako prevented his motion sickness it became a habit of Cloud's to always look at the horizon on a ship or boat just in case.

The way Cloud looked out at the sea bothered Yuna. It wasn't like the look he had back on Spira, his eyes were filled with concern, doubt and sadness. "Is everything all right?" Yuna turned to him and took his left hand. It was strange, his grip was loose and it looked like his arm was shaking. "I'm fine." Cloud replied bluntly with his eyes still fixed on the horizon.

"I don't believe you." Yuna's grip on Cloud's hand tightened and she could see him trying to hide the wince on his face. Without a second thought she pulled his sleeve up and before he had any time to react she saw it. She saw the black dirt-like infection spread out across the top half of his left arm.

Before anyone else saw, Cloud quickly pulled the sleeve back down. With a sigh he muttered "Geostigma." before turning his head away from Yuna. He couldn't bare to look at those eyes.

"I thought you were cured of Geostigma...why didn't you say anything?" Yuna's eyes were tearing up. She was sad, angry, confused, she didn't know what she was but it wasn't good. "Look, I just-"

"We are now docking at Costa Del Sol. Please enjoy your stay and we hope you have a pleasent time here." Cloud was interrupted by the announcer and they were quickly hurried off the ship by the crew who appeared to be already getting into their swim wear.

"Can we just talk about this later!?" "Why later!? They need to know now!" Tifa and the rest of the group overheard Cloud and Yuna's argument. They walked over and Barret interrupted them by saying "We need to know what now?"

Cloud and Yuna exchanged a look and it was obvious the argument was still going on through eye contact. "If you won't tell them, then I will." Yuna stated and before Cloud could even open his mouth she was already continuing her revelation "Cloud still has Geostigma!" she backed her accusation up with proof as well pulling up Cloud's sleeve and showing them the familiar infection that bore his arm not so long ago.

"When were you going to tell us, Cloud?" Tifa asked which was met with a long silence. Tifa got sick of waiting for an answer "So after all we've been through together, that's all we're worth to you?"

Cloud looked down "Tifa I-" "I don't know what's gotten into you lately! First you disappear for months and then you stop answering our calls! You've at least seen us as friends so why won't you talk to us!" Tifa spared him the effort of trying to come up with a dumb excuse. "That's simple...it's because you're my friends, that I haven't been talking to you." Cloud replied before walking away from the group and leaving them to discuss.

!~!

It had been over 2 hours now and nobody had seen Cloud. Denzel was getting worried. Did Cloud really have Geostigma again? Was he going to be all right? He and Marlene walked through the streets of Costa Del Sol. The sun shone high in the sky and sweat began to form around Denzel's forehead. They looked down every alleyway and looked round every corner they could, but Cloud was still no where to be seen.

They tried asking around if any of the towns people had seen Cloud but with no aveil. "Blond spiky hair, wearing all black, only one sleeve?" Denzel asked the next person they saw. It was a man, ginger and quite lean. He wore a red leather trench coat and his eyes were sky blue. The man appeared to grin before replying "As a matter of fact I have. Just come with me and I'll take you to him."

Denzel was getting suspicious as the ginger haired man lead them further and further away from the town. Eventually they came to the entrance of the town. There was a motorcycle parked next to it, however it wasn't Fenrir. Denzel looked up at the man "Why did you bring us all the way out he-" before he could finish his sentence the man used a sleep spell on the two of them knocking them out cold. "You'll thank me later, after all it's a long ride to the Temple of the Ancients."

!~!

As Cloud was driving back to Costa Del Sol he noticed another bike leaving in a hurried state. Closing in on the bike Cloud understood why it was in such a hurry Denzel and Marlene were tied up and Genesis was manning the bike. There was no time for Cloud to come up with a plan so he just sped up to catch up to Genesis before he could take them.

Cloud knew it was a trap. If Genesis didn't want to be caught he would've just used the lifestream to transport them back to his hideout.

Just as Cloud was about to pull up next to Genesis two other bikes came from out of no where surrounding Cloud and stopping him from getting level with Genesis. Being surrounded in a bike fight wasn't the greatest position to be in so Cloud's main priority was to disable all of the bikes. With fusion sword in hand he blocked a few incoming attacks and then span his sword around in the air. Three swords de-fused from the main blade each of them heading straight for one of the tyres on each bike.

To Cloud's surprise his rushed last minute plan worked and he jumped off Fenrir to meet the three SOLDIERs in battle. Cloud lunged for Genesis who was trying to take Denzel and Marlene as fast as possible. It looked like Marlene had come to as she was causing Genesis all kinds of problems. Punching and kicking trying to resist as much as possible and buying Cloud some time. Before Cloud could reach Genesis the two other SOLDIERs blocked Cloud off. They were both 1st class and it looked like Cloud was in for a long fight.

Cloud hacked and slashed trying to break through to get to Genesis, but nothing was working. In fact Cloud was being put on the defensive. One strike, two strikes, three strikes the attacks just kept coming in and Cloud could barely keep up with them.

It was time to counter their attacks. Cloud could feel the energy within him boiling up and surging through his veins. He kicked off of one of the SOLDIERs and prepared his limit break. Just as he locked onto his target, Cloud saw the earth moving towards him. One of them must've anticipated Cloud's limit break and cast a quake spell. He made a split second decision to switch targets to the quake spell moving towards him and sent a bright blue beam of energy towards it causing rock to fly everywhere and preventing the spell from reaching him. Despite this while his attention was on the spell the other SOLDIER who was casting a haste spell came flying towards Cloud who wasn't prepared at all. A weak guard was put up in the last minute which caused Cloud's sword to fly out of his hand. This was followed by a kick to his chest which sent him down into the dirt flat on his back.

Just as all seemed hopeless the SOLDIER was stopped mid swing by a spray of bullets from a distance causing him to diffusing into essence of the lifestream. Stunned and confused by the death of his partner the other SOLDIER soon followed suit as another spray of bullets sent him to the lifestream as well.

"It seemed like you needed some help." Yuna ran to Cloud's side and helped him up. While Cloud was grateful for the assistance he had no time to thank her and his attention switched to Genesis. Marlene was still resisting him and when he caught sight of Cloud and Yuna running for him he gave up on Marlene and took Denzel instead. As the two were about to launch their attacks he vanished into streams of green along with Denzel.

"Cloud!" Marlene shouted as she ran to him and put her hands around his body. "He's going to the Temple of the Ancients! I heard him before I passed out! We have to get Denzel back!" Marlene informed Cloud who put his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry I'll get him back. Yuna, keep Marlene safe here. I'm heading for the Temple of the Ancients to get my son back." Cloud said which made Yuna scowl. "No offence, but if I hadn't showed up those two SOLDIERs would've killed you, how do you plan on taking out Genesis as well as all the other SOLDIERs who are probably waiting for you there too? Let us go with you and help you get Denzel back." She had already put away her guns and crossed her arms, standing in that way she did whenever she had her mind set on something. "I've got this!" Cloud replied firmly.

"No you don't, Cloud!" to Cloud's surprise it was Marlene who spoke up. "We always offer you help, but all you do is shut us out!" her voice was shaky and soon after she was blubbering with tears in her eyes. "Something's bothering you, and you're not telling us! Why can't you be more like Yuna!?" this time the tears came flooding in and she ran over to Yuna's side and hugged her hiding her face away. "But-" Cloud stopped himself mid sentence.

He looked down and stayed silent for a few seconds. "I'm afraid, alright? I'm afraid because the Geostigma is going to kill me and I have so many regrets! Aerith and Zack are a part of it, I'll admit it. I miss them and they were good people, but me...let's face it all I ever do is put you all in danger. You saw what happened to Denzel, so why bother you guys more than I already have?" even Cloud's voice was getting a bit shaky now.

"Cloud...there's a reason we've all stuck with you over these past few years, it's because you're a part of our family." Yuna said not sympathetically, but inspirationally. "Just because you have Geostigma doesn't mean you should crawl under a rock and die alone, you should spend the time you have left connecting with people, not pushing them away. I love you, we love you and we're always here for you, right Marlene!" Marlene revealed her face from hiding and with a big smile she said "Yeah, we're here for you!"

"I- I don't know what to say. Thank you, both of you. Now why don't we go and gather the others and head to the Temple of the Ancients as soon as possible?" Cloud said with more confidence than he had ever had before in his life. The two girls joined him by his stand both of them taking one of his hands as they made their way back to the others. "We're right behind you!"

Cloud's phone started buzzing like crazy, 11 new voice messages.

 _ **Tifa**_

 _"I'm sorry for shouting, we shouldn't spend this time arguing. I know you're going through a lot and I'm always here to talk."_

 _ **Barret**_

 _"You can't go dyin' on me! Who am I gonna use as my punching bag if you're gone? Heh, I'm just kiddin'. Don't lose hope Chocoboy!"_

 _ **Red**_

 _"Hey Cloud, it's Red here. When this is all over come to Cosmo Canyon with me. We'll work on a cure together, my grandfather knew a lot about disease and illness maybe there's something in his notes we could find. Anyway, get well soon."_

 _ **Yuffie**_

 _"Don't go dying on me now, Chocoboy! You haven't written your will yet saying that all the materia goes to me! Hehehe! Anyway we should hang out more after we're done with Jenova! Don't hesitate to call!"_

 _ **Reeve**_

 _"I know I'm not there in person Cloud, but trust me you mean a great deal to me. I'll try to catch up to you all as soon as I can. If you ever want to catch up over a drink sometime, just let me know."_

 _ **Cid**_

 _"What the hell do you think you're doin'! You ain't dying yet Chocoboy! Genesis doesn't get ta kill you, Geostigma doesn't get ta kill you, not even you get ta kill you, only I get ta kill you after you get us into more trouble! Hahaha! I'm serious though, the privilege of killin' you is mine so you better tell this Geostigma to piss off!"_

 _ **Priscilla**_

 _"You can't die yet! We haven't gotten married yet! What will our kids do without a dad!? What ever you do you can not die! You better fight this Geostigma and win or I'll be miserable for the rest of my life!"_

 _ **Paine**_

 _"We don't know each other that well, but I sense that we have a lot more in common than we think. Come talk to me if you need any advice or anything. Can't have a good fellow soldier dying now can we?"_

 _ **Tidus**_

 _"The Cloud I knew would never let this Leostigma, Genostigma, or whatever you call it bring him down! He would take his sword and fight back, he would face death itself and come out on top! And that's what you better do! We can't lose our best Blitz striker!"_

 _ **Rikku**_

 _"Don't die Big C! You're too good of a person to die in such a horrible way! You don't deserve this and don't feel like you do, alright? You're a good person, you never think about yourself first always about others. When we first met you were so kind to me even though you knew I was Al Bhed. You backed me up when Wakka found out despite him being one of your closest friends and I'll never forget that. If you ever need anything, come and talk to me! Why don't we all get together after this is over and grab a drink, me, you, Yuna, Tidus, Paine, Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri sound good?"_

 _ **?**_

 _"We're always with you, in times of desperate need we will come to you. Don't ever forget that we care about you, we love you."_


	6. The Rescue

**Chapter 6 - _The Rescue_**

Cloud and the others had been travelling non-stop heading straight for Gongaga where they would find a boat and set sail for the Temple of the Ancients. It had been a draining journey but they had to get there as soon as possible to get back Denzel.

When they reached Gongaga the others had gone to the bar for a little rest however Cloud didn't take a break. Rather than waste time at the bar he set out to look for the nearest merchant who was selling a boat, sailing a boat, whatever would get them to the temple in the least amount of time.

The town had changed a lot over the past two years. After the Meteor crisis the towns people had really changed, instead of moping around they began to build and expand. It was over two times as big as it was before and they had expanded so much that the town had reached the coast creating another dock.

"200 gil?" Cloud asked flabbergasted by the absurd price of the boat ride. "Per person. Times are changin'. With the town gettin' so big, a man has to up his price to make a livin' out here." the short, dark haired man said. 200 gil per person was ridiculous, he was going to have to find someone else. Besides Cloud only had 300 gil to his name at the moment which was only enough to take one person across.

"Had any luck?" Yuna had caught up to Cloud to help him out. She had had her little break and was ready and raring to go now that she had freshened up. Cloud shook his head "I didn't realise how much Gongaga had changed since Meteor almost hit. Who would've thought a boat ride would cost 200 gil per person?"

"Sorry, I couldn't help but over hear you needed boat transportation." Cloud and Yuna turned to find a man in a grey trench coat jumping in on their conversation. He wasn't very tall, 5"5 give or take and Cloud didn't figure him as a fighter.

"What if I told you I could give you a free ride to wherever you wanted?" the man in the grey trench coat continued. Cloud's was growing more and more suspicious, first he eavesdrops on their conversation then offers a free boat ride? Unintentionally Cloud found himself gripping the hilt of his sheathed fusion sword. "Why would you give us a free ride? You don't know how many of us there are or where we're going. We don't even know your name, why should we trust you?"

Yuna took Cloud's hand removing it from his sword and into hers in an atempt to calm him down. "I'm sorry sir, he's just a bit agitated we've been travelling for a long time. My name is Yuna and this is-" "Ha! There's no need to introduce me to Mr. Strife here! I have been following his tales for a long time now, the Nibelheim incident, the Meteor crisis, the return of Sephiroth. As for me, my name is Seifer, Seifer Khayin." the short man said with a bow.

Cloud didn't realise that there was a possibility of him having fans. He quite liked the thought of it, despite this he still didn't 100% trust this Seifer character. "So you'll give us a ride to the Temple of the Ancients then?" Cloud asked trying to move the conversation along swiftly. "Of course, under one condition." there was always a condition or a catch invloved wasn't there, was anything straight forward? "Name it." Cloud sighed "Please allow me to acompany you on your current adventure! I want to know what it's like to be a hero, I want to push my limits and I want to help out the greatest warrior this world has ever seen!"

Was this guy for real? "Are you sure? You don't look like much of a fighter." other than the fact Seifer was short, he was all bone and no muscle, his stature was very closed and he didn't exactly have an intimidating aura about him. "Trust me, I won't be helpless." Seifer replied with a little smirk on his face, which Cloud found unusual. They didn't have any other way to get to Denzel, there was only one way to go "Alright, you can join us. We'll gather our things and meet you back here." Cloud said while shaking his head.

Seifer jumped up and punched the air while Cloud had already started walking away with Yuna following close behind "I'll be at bay 13! Thank you Mr. Strife!"

!~!

Cloud should've been able to see the crater where the temple used to stand, but instead he saw something else. Scientists were at work and SOLDIER members were patrolling the island. Strange, why hadn't the SOLDIERs seen them coming yet? Could it have been a trap? Was Seifer a spy? A traitor?

"What's goin' on? Why aren't they doing anything about us?" Barret questioned with his left arm moving closer to his gun arm while looking straight at Seifer who was very relaxed. "You don't need to worry about anything. I've figured out how to manipulate the atoms around us and change their molecular structure by repelling the protons of said atoms which causes-" everyone was staring blankly at him. After a little smirk Seifer simplified his point "We're invisible."

"I could do that..." Cid muttered under his breath clearly both impressed and annoyed by Seifer's invention. "This is perfect." the cogs in Cloud's mind started turning and a plan started to form in his mind.

"Here's the plan. Long rangers stay here on the boat, if you get into close combat with a SOLDIER member you'll be down and out within two seconds without the proper training. Since you'll be invisible our enemies won't be able to retaliate, they can't fight what they can't see. The rest of us will split up into two groups and form a pincer attack."

Seifer lowered two rowing boats down from his ship, which he guaranteed were also invisible. Before Cloud got on his boat he made eye contact with Yuna, she smiled at him. Cloud scowled. Something wasn't right. He looked around him and everyone was staring at him and smiling, waiting for him to continue on. Cloud blinked and looked at Yuna more closely. Two blue eyes? His mind clicked.

!~!

Cloud forced his eyes open and sat upright. He was in a strange room full of technology and chemicals. There were small chambers all around him, each one containing one of his companions. A simulation. They hadn't even made it to the island before they got beat. Some how the SOLDIERs must've sneaked on board and knocked them all out before placing them in these simulation chambers. But why didn't they just kill them?

"I thought you would be the first to figure it out." Genesis was standing by the door with his sword drawn. "You kept us alive, why?" Cloud was now standing although with no weapon by his side.

"Mother has plans for you. I wasn't allowed to kill you, but your friends, well they're a different story. I only kept them alive for leverage." at some point during his explanation Genesis had revealed a remote. With a smirk on his face the man in red continued on "This remote, when activated, will start a timer. After 10 minutes have passed your friends minds will be completely lost in cyber space and won't ever be able to return to their real bodies. That is unless you can defeat me in time. The remote also has a fail safe, I have to give you some hope don't I?"

Before Cloud could even open his mouth Genesis pressed the button and lunged for Cloud. Luckily while Genesis gave his long explanation he had eyed his fusion sword on the left side of the room. Cloud rolled towards his sword whilst also dodging Genesis's incoming attack. The fight was now even, but a minute had already gone and there was only 9 minutes left to save his friends.

Cloud swung his sword rapidly desperate to get the remote out of the hands of Genesis. 7 minutes remained. He was forced to increase the speed of his attacks and decrease the amount of strategical thinking. As the lower the time got the more sloppy Cloud got. 4 minutes left. Cloud ducked underneath the swings coming in from Genesis and locked blades with him. 2 minutes left. There was only one way to get that remote, but Cloud wasn't going to like it. Cloud moved his blade away from Genesis's and allowed him to create a gash in his left arm, however this drew Genesis's focus away from the remote which presented Cloud the opportunity to grab it and he did just that. He jumped back to create some space for himself and pressed the abort button. Now he could focus on the fight.

"Heh. I'm impressed, but I'm afraid that's all I have time for. I already got what I wanted." Genesis wiped Cloud's blood off of his blade smirking as he did so. Once again he vanished in streams of green.

!~!

Cloud had removed everyone from their chambers and propped them up against the wall. It seemed as though the mako in Cloud's blood stream had helped him recovery fairly quickly from the transition back to the real world as well as the nasty gash on his arm. It was very rare that Cloud used materia these days but he would have to use a cure spell to help him recover if he was going to look for Denzel on his own.

Cloud took out his phone and sent a message to Tifa's phone to let them know what had happened and where he had gone. He didn't like leaving them alone in this state but they were probably safer than Denzel was.

Just as Cloud was about to exit through the door Genesis had come from he heard a groan. No, not a groan. A call. "Cloud?"

It was Yuna, thank the gods. Cloud rushed to her side and held her hand. "Are you all right?" Cloud's question was answered by the grin on her face. "Of course I am, but I'd like to know what happened and where we are."

"It's a long story."

!~!

Cloud and Yuna moved through the dark hallways silently. Stealth was key to this mission, if they were discovered they would be putting everyone else at risk of being captured again. Not only that but Denzel would be taken away again.

Turning the corner they were encountered by a sealed door. There was a number pad and a hand scanner, this must've been an important room for it to be so securely locked down.

"How are we going to get in?" Yuna was whispering to avoid raising suspicion. Regarding her question Cloud took a closer look at the metal door. He pushed on it a bit however it wouldn't budge. "I could use my sword, but we would blow our cover. Any ideas?"

The two remained silent trying to think of a way to get the door open and stay hidden at the same time. Cloud only saw one possibility, he would have to break the door down and then hold off all of the SOLDIER members so they were focused on him, Yuna saw things differently. "If we go through with your plan you'll get yourself killed. We need to think hard about this." Cloud knew she was right, but how else would they get in?

"We could knock out one of the scientists and use their hand for the scanner." Yuna proposed and while a good idea it wasn't enough. "You're forgetting about the number pad. That plan would give us the hand, but we still won't know the code."

The sound of boots against metal could be heard from around the corner. With one exchange of looks the pair took to the shadows. Cloud pressed his back against the wall readying his sword as he did while Yuna did the same on the other side of the hallway with her pistols raised.

As the footsteps got louder and the target came closer the more tension was built up. When the mystery character came around the corner Cloud was both relieved and filled with annoyance. "What are you doing here, Seifer? Didn't you get the message?" Cloud kept his voice down but it was clear that he wasn't happy.

"I thought you would need some help and it looks like I was right." Seifer walked up to the door and looked it up and down. "I'll take care of this, just sit tight." Cloud didn't like it but he didn't have any ideas of his own so this was the best they had.

A few screw turns and the crossing of some wires and the door opened. "Voila." Seifer took a bow, but Cloud had more important things to do than congratulate him. He walked straight past Seifer and poked his head through the door.

Mako. Canisters and canisters of mako. The room was filled with the bright green glow of the lifestream's essence. Luckily the room was void of any people which meant they could relax a little. "What are they doing with all this mako?" Cloud found himself muttering.

There was a computer just ahead with a giant screen planted on the wall. Seifer had already eyed it up and strated examining it. "Why don't you try to hack into that thing while I look around for some clues?" Seifer nodded and went straight to work typing away at the keyboard.

Cloud pulled Yuna to one side. "Stay with him. Make sure he doesn't try anything stupid, I still don't trust him completely." Yuna didn't understand Cloud's suspicions, but she agreed to stay with Seifer regardless.

More canisters of mako. What was Genesis planning? What was Jenova making him do? More importantly why did he leave it all behind? Did he want Cloud to find this?

Just beyond the computer there was a chamber, similar to the ones they were in. Cloud made his way to it and looked through the glass top. It was Denzel. Cloud didn't think he just acted, big mistake. As soon as he opened the chamber alarms rang and red lights flashed everywhere. "Shit! We need to get back to the others and bust our way out of here!" Cloud exclaimed.

Cloud picked up Denzel and the three of them ran for it. Yuna and Seifer were further ahead than Cloud and when they turned the corner all he could hear was the sound of gunfire. Quickly he put Denzel down and drew his sword.

Just as one of the SOLDIER members were about to swing at Yuna, Cloud stepped in and blocked the attack. He parried the strike and countered with a diagonal slash which sent the SOLDIER flying into the crowd, knocking a few over. Cloud pulled them both back around the corner to take cover. "Take Denzel and find another way around. If you can find the others we can hit them from two sides." Cloud told Yuna and Seifer.

Just as Yuna was about to protest Seifer nipped in "You won't have to hold them off for long. You forget, you're with a genius!" he had a grin on his face as he pulled out some kind of a gun. "It's called the Matter Diffusion Ray! With this we can travel through matter, which means we'll be able to bypass walls like they're not even there!" Cloud noticed Seifer had a tendency to get very enthusiastic.

"Go. Make sure someone stays with Denzel." as soon as the words left his mouth Cloud rolled around the corner and made all of the SOLDIERs focus on him. It was hard to tell how many there were, maybe 20. Fortunately there were only one or two first class members which made it easier for Cloud to take out the lower ranks who hadn't been infused with so much mako.

Cloud was unsure whether Yuna and Seifer had managed to get round, he was too focused on blocking incoming swings. He parried and countered like a madman, jumping, rolling, spinning. About half of them had been wiped out by Cloud alone and when the others came from behind them he relaxed a little bit, partly because he didn't have to face the more elite members by himself, but mainly because Yuna had made it around safely. Perhaps Seifer could be trusted.

"Awight! That showed 'em!" Barret always had a habit of getting too excited after a hard battle, but it brought everyone's spirits up so Cloud wasn't complaining.

When Cloud's train of thought returned to more important matters he spoke up "Seifer, did you find anything on that computer? Any sort of exit?" Barret had finally calmed down after Cloud reminded everyone the battle wasn't over. "As a matter of fact I did. It turns out we're actually in what used to be the remains of the Temple of the Ancients, it seems as though they have turned this place into a little base of operations. There are two exits, the first is the main exit which will be heavily guarded now that we've been discovered so I suggest we take the second exit. Just past the room we were being kept in there's an elevator, if we go down there's a submarine we can use to escape through the water."

No doubt the submarine would be guarded as well, however their enemies wouldn't suspect that they knew about it. Seifer was right the submarine was the best choice. "Alright then, let's mosey."

!~!

"First time on a submarine?" Cloud asked Yuna who appeared to be drifting off into a light sleep. Too exhausted to speak she nodded with heavy eyes. It didn't occur to Cloud until now that everyone had been tired out by the fight, even Paine, who was battle hardened just like Cloud, had begun to slowly drift off into a restful sleep. It wasn't like the rest of AVALANCHE to be like this either, had Cloud's mako been enhanced somehow? Or could it have been the simulation that had tired them out?

Cloud decided to let Yuna sleep. He kissed her on the forehead and made his way over to the control panel where Seifer was manning the submarine. "Why don't you get some rest? I can take over if you want." Seifer didn't seem surprised that Cloud offered to take the wheel. He kept forgetting that Seifer had studied all of his adventures, Cloud still wasn't sure how he felt about that. Did it make him predictable? Maybe he was thinking about it too much.

It seemed as though Seifer was in the same state as everyone else as he just got up and found a corner to rest in. "Thank you by the way. If it wasn't for you we might not have made it out of there." Cloud thanked and Seifer just replied with a noise that sounded like a 'no problem' which was followed by the sound of snoring.

For the first time in a long while Cloud sat down at the head of the submarine. With a quick glance at the radar he made a few adjustments to the direction and set a course back to Gongaga.

They were going to be travelling for quiet a while after they got back to Gongaga. There weren't any direct routes to the Northern Cave without air travel. However, there was a train that went from the Gold Saucer to Nibelheim which cut through the mountains. Cloud had a choice to make, go the long and boring way just to prolong revisiting his hometown or go the short, more exciting way and get the visit over and done with.

There wasn't any need for Cloud to bore the others just so he didn't have to face his past. The journey was dismal as it was, they could do with a bit of fun. He had made up his mind, after they had reached Gongaga their next stop would be the Gold Saucer.

!~!

"Is it ready?" Genesis had been working the scientists non-stop and they were beginning to lose concentration. "Yes sir. I just need to add the blood sample and the serum should be complete." he handed the sample of Cloud's blood to the scientist who added it to the concoction in the test tube which turned it to a red violet colour.

"As long as this gets into his blood stream the S-cells within him should start to degrade and fade away." this put a smile on Genesis's face. "Good, Mother will be most pleased."

 _ **Thank you for all the support recently, this story has been gaining favourites and follows like crazy these past few weeks! Make sure to leave a review and let me know what you think about Seifer so far!**_


	7. Nibelheim

**Chapter 7 -** _ **Nibelheim**_

"You ok back there buddy?" Thanks to Seifer's advanced technology the group were able to amplify the effects of the enemy away materia which meant it was safe for Denzel to ride with Cloud. "Yeah!" Denzel had to shout over the roar of Fenrir's engine as well as the wind that whipped past them.

It occurred to Cloud that he and the boy hadn't really had the chance to talk one on one since Yuna had arrived and that talk was well overdue. "So how's your swordplay coming along?" While Cloud was against Denzel actually going out into the field at this age he did think it was important that he learned the basics. "It's ok, I guess. I do the drills you showed me everyday, or at least I did. After we left Midgar I haven't had the chance to practice." he didn't sound very confident about his skills as a swordsman.

Cloud blamed himself for not being around to help his son, but rather then beat himself up about it he was going to make it right. "Listen, I'm sorry for leaving you and Marlene and Tifa like that. I want to make it right, how about we train at least once a day? Just you and me?" Cloud took a glance behind him and saw Denzel's face beaming. It was clear that he was in agreement with Cloud's proposal.

!~!

"That's the Gold Saucer!?" Rikku cried out in awe and excitment. She was sat in the middle of Tidus and Yuna, both just as excited as her. "You think Cloud'll let us go on the rides?" Tidus questioned in eagarness and anticipation. Yuna took a glance out of her window and saw Denzel making a face at her. She made one back causing them both to giggle and the smirk that Cloud was trying to hide answered Tidus's question.

"I wonder if the chocobo races are really as good as Cloud says they are." Rikku brought up interested in the holograms of the race track. Yuna smiled "I wonder if Cloud will do a race for us." the three of them laughed at the statement and she could see Paine, who sat just in front of them, smirking as well.

Paine was very much like Cloud. They both had minds for battle strategy, they were both very skilled in battle and they both tried to hide their smirks or laughs. Paine had mentioned something about wanting a sparring session before they left Gongaga, which entrigued Yuna, Rikku and Tidus, the others not so much. AVALANCHE hadn't really seen Paine in action, but I guess when you're up against Cloud Strife sometimes you don't need to see the other person in action.

"Last one to the stations pays for the tickets!" Yuna heard from outside of the truck. Cloud was betting with Barret, who was driving their truck, and Cid driving the other. "Oh it's on Chocoboy! Everyone buckel up!" Barret exclaimed as he slammed his foot on the gas, however the truck was no match for Fenrir's extreme speed and they were left in the dust.

!~!

In spite of everything that had gone wrong for North Corel, it seemed as though the town was finally bouncing back. Ever since Barret had launched his oil company the town had found a new fire at it's core. When Cloud walked through the town with Denzel he saw the happy faces of the citizens who were walking around enjoying their new revolution rather than the depressed ones he had seen previously.

"I hope you have enough gil for those tickets." Cloud teased as he saw the others finally arriving. A few of them giggled, Barret looked like he was about to punch him but what was new there? "Jus' hurry up and get our viechles loaded on the tram Chocoboy." Barret grumbled before heading to the tickets office.

Everyone had split up into different groups socialising with one another while Cloud had stored away Fenrir along with their two trucks into a seperate carriage which was being sent directly to the station near Nibelheim. There it was again. Cloud flinched even at the thought of the town's name. It triggered so many memories which in turn triggered his geostigma. Luckily it hadn't been too bad that time, but what if it got worse when they arrived at Nibelheim?

"You ok?" Yuna's words pulled him back into reality and her voice soothed his mind allowing him to relax. Cloud nodded "I'm fine. It's just been a while since I was last at my hometown." he was trying not to say the name in fear it might trigger the geostigma again.

"I know how you feel. When I became a sphere hunter I left Besaid without telling anyone. A few months later I had to return there to find another sphere and I was really nervous. I expect everyone to freak out, but they all just greeted me with a smile and welcomed me back." Cloud was confused by Yuna's statement and she could evidently see that by the look on his face. "What I'm trying to say is that it might not be as bad as you think it will be." "Maybe you're right."

"Hurry up you two!" Rikku called out as the rest of the group were getting on the tram. "C'mon, how about I take you on the gondola when we get there?" Cloud said as he put his hand on the small of Yuna's back and started walking towards the rest of the group. Yuna smiled "I'd like that."

!~!

"This place is huge!" Rikku, Tidus, Marlene and Denzel had ran straight into the place with out hesitation. Everyone else soon filtered in, most were in a pretty good mood. "Alright everyone. The tram to Nibelheim leaves at 6pm. Make sure you're all here by 5:50 so we can get on in time." Cloud informed everyone.

"Denzel, Marlene. Why don't you go with Rikku and Tidus on some of the rides." Tifa said as she handed the two of them some gil to spend at the arcade. Once again without any hesitation the four of them slid down the first tunnel they saw.

Cloud and Yuna made eye contact and she made her way over with a smile on her face, a smile that was about to be ripped away. "Come on Cloud! Let's go to the haunted mansion!" Priscilla had taken a hold of Cloud's arm and pulled him down the tunnel before he could even say a word.

Yuna must've been visibly angry, which was very rare indeed, as she got a few looks from Paine and Tifa. "Want me to take care of her?" Paine's suggestion wasn't off the table completely, but Yuna was better than that. "Leave it to me. I'll get him back for you." Tifa chuckled, Yuna guessed Tifa had become an expert in getting Cloud back from girls who had 'kidnapped' him.

"Yo, Paine! We're headin' over to the battle square, you wanna join us?" Barret called over who waited with Cid, Vincent, Yuffie, Seifer and Red. She glanced at Yuna who nodded telling her to go with them. "I'll join you after Cloud gets here."

"Sorry about that." Cloud had just jumped up from the tunnel a few minutes after everyone had left for the battle square. Yuna had her arms crossed and looked away from him. Again, a smirk crept onto his face. "I could always go back you know." Cloud teased as he walked closer to Yuna. "You wouldn't." she was trying her best not to crack a smile now. "You're right, I wouldn't. I guess I'm just too loyal for that."

Yuna couldn't hold back her smile any longer. She leaped into his arms and exchanged a kiss with him. "How about we go on that gondola ride?" "I'd like that."

!~!

Paine wasn't one for attracting big crowds, but it seemed like she had unintentionallycaused one after her performance in the battle square.

"That was amazing!"

"I've never seen someone clear all 8 battles in person!"

When Paine exited the arena and made her way into the lobby a screen was projected onto the wall. Her name appeared in huge letters closely followed by the number 2. Paine didn't like being beaten in anything, who could've possibly beaten her score of 11,000 points?

The screen changed again and reveal the list of the top 10 participants that had ever taken on the challenge. Paine instantly looked at the number 1 place, the name read 'Chocoboy Strife' with a score of 12,500 points.

"He's never forgiven us for that." Cid told her as he exchanged a laugh with Barret. "Don't worry about it too much, Paine. Cloud is an exceptionally skill warrior who has had a lot of time to refine said skills." Red could see that Paine was a little annoyed that she hadn't beaten Cloud as did Tifa apparently "I'm sure if you keep practicing you'll beat his score eventually."

"Hey guys! Yuna's about to compete in her very first chocobo race! We have to go and watch her!" Rikku had popped up from somewhere informing them of the news and just as quickly as she appeared she was gone again. Everyone was ready to head over to the Chocobo Square apart from Barret and Cid who wanted to stay and laugh at newbie fighters. Tifa and Yuffie sorted the two boys out by pulling them along by their ears.

!~!

"So, how's she doing?" Cloud heard from behind him. Everyone had gathered to watch Yuna's race, she would be thankful they turned up while she was racing. Cloud knew she would've gotten to nervous too focus if she knew everyone was here. "Not bad, she's in 4th place at the moment."

"Hey, Chocoboy! How about you race next an' show everyone why that's your nickname?" Barret was trying to get Cloud to race just so he, Cid and possibly Yuffie could win an easy bet. Despite Cloud knowing this he decided to play along, after all the extra money would help on the road. "Alright, I will. Then maybe after you win your bet you'll be able to replace that money you lost on the tram tickets." Cloud smirked as Barret held back a curse.

During their conversation Yuna had managed to force her way into 3rd place as the chocobos crossed the laser finish line and had made her way back up to the main lobby of the chocobo square. "How did you find it?" Cloud asked her as she approached the group, a smile present on her face. "It was really fun! Not as easy as riding casually though."

"Yo Cloud! Hurry yo' ass up and register for the next race!" Barret really wanted that gil back didn't he? "I'll do this race then why don't we head to the tram and spend some alone time together?" Cloud had turned to face Yuna again who nodded in agreement with his proposal.

Cloud made his way over to the registration office and was greeted by a woman wearing a pink dress and a lot of make up. "Hey Cloud! You here to race?" Ester always was enthusiastic about Cloud's chocobo racing skills. "Yeah I am, Ester. When's the next race?" "10 minutes, want me to put you in?" before Cloud could even respond she was all ready writing his name down and his chocobo's name. "All done! Go right ahead to the waiting room and show 'em who's boss!" Cloud couldn't help but smile "Thanks Ester."

!~!

"That's my chocoboy!"

"Get in there Strife!"

"Is gambling the only thing you two care about?" Tifa sighed as she shook her head in disappointment. Cid and Barret were too busy drooling over their winnings to even notice Tifa's question. "Now I get why you call him chocoboy." Tidus said as his other three companions from Spira also began to understand the reasoning behind Cloud's nickname. "I hate that name." Cloud muttered before continuing on with "We should head to the station, the tram will be here any minute." as he made his way to the exit.

!~!

"You're late." Reeve said as the group got off the tram. Small flakes of snow had started to fall from the clouds above and drop onto Cloud's pale skin. "I've been freezing my ass off out here waiting for you!" He continues which put a smirk on the faces of most in the group.

"The tram was late. Did you get our transportation?" Cloud didn't care that he was late, Nibelheim was only half an hour away from here after all. "It's all in the parking bay." Reeve replied causing everyone to run for the trucks to get away from the cold air and the numbing snow. Cloud on the other hand made his way to Fenrir at a moderate pace, it didn't matter whether he got to his motorbike quickly or not as he would still have to endure the sharp contact of the winter wind.

It wasn't a surprise to Cloud when no one asked to ride with him. To be honest Cloud didn't mind, he needed this time alone to clear his mind. If he went into his hometown with all these negative thoughts from the past then his geostigma would indefinitely be triggered, if he cleared those thoughts out of his mind then perhaps there may be a chance that it wouldn't be triggered.

As Cloud rode along the wind felt like a thousand knives plunging themselves into his arms, cutting and stabbing him into exhaustion. He took a glance at the two trucks, inside everyone was laughing and singing Christmas carols. Cloud wasn't one for singing the carols but he did enjoy the holiday and its traditions. AVALANCHE loved the holiday and we're the type of people to listen to Christmas songs in November under normal circumstances. It seemed not even the threat of Jenova could stop them from releasing their Christmas spirit. It's strange how one holiday could keep many people from being depressed and serious.

"5 chocobooooys!" Barret shouted as he rolled down to mock Cloud before rolling it back up once again. When Cloud was sure Denzel and Marlene weren't looking he made a rude gesture at Barret by sticking up his middle finger which just seemed to cause him to laugh even more.

The snow didn't seem to be letting up, rather it was coming down thicker and faster which wasn't good for Cloud but after being in the Great Glacier for so long he was able to deal with the cold pretty well. It helped with the fiends though, most of them were hiding away in caves or a makeshift shelter so there wasn't much work to be done by Cloud. With another glance at the trucks the group were still singing away. Cloud wasn't sure whether they celebrated Christmas on Spira but from the sights of Yuna Rikku and Tidus singing along as well, they evidently did.

Nibelheim was finally in sight, the white sheet of snow covering up the red rooftops of the houses and engulfing the cobblestone walkway. From what Cloud could see the well had icicles hanging from the edges and the only truck the town had was now accompanied by a few others. While many towns had expanded after the Meteor crisis Nibelheim had remained the same as it always had been. It wasn't until recently that the town had begun to expand and grow like the others. The reason for this was unclear, perhaps the Sephiroth incident was still affecting the town even after Meteor and the people had only just gotten over it. Either way it was still the same town Cooud had grown up in and had come to know.

It didn't surprise Cloud when his arm flinched upon pulling up to the entrance. The stigma would react to him being here no matter what, the question was how bad it would be and at the moment Cloud was able to stay composed. Not long after he arrived the others began to pull up as well. "I always loved it when it snowed when we were kids." Tifa stood next to Cloud as the two looked into the town. "Yeah, I know. I remember you were always happy around this time. Do you still have the key to your house?" After Sephiroth's return a few months ago Tifa had bought her old house in Nibelheim just in case they ever found themselves returning to the town. Her precaution paid off it seemed.

"Alright, we'll spend the night here then continued to Rocket Town." "But what about Christmas?" Cloud was puzzled by Rikku's question at first, he then realise that the holiday was only 2 days away. Had he lost track of time that much? He thought Christmas was 2 weeks away not 2 days. "I don't want to spend Christmas travelling on a road, I want to stay here and open presents and eat Christmas dinner." Riki continued on.

It seemed as though most of the group were agreeing with her and the thought of having a break away from everything that was going on did appeal to Cloud. He knew it wasn't the wisest choice but he had to agree with Rikku. Everyone looked at Cloud waiting for him to make a decision "We'll stay for Christmas then. But don't let your guard down SOLDIER could come at any moment."

"YES! Come on guys, let's decorate the house!" Rikku exclaimed before running into the town towards Tifa's house followed by most of the group. "You coming?" Yuna asked Cloud, taking his hand at the same time. Cloud nodded "I'll catch up, you start without me." As Yuna ran to catch up with the others Cloud was left alone at the entrance with Vincent and Paine. "It's must be difficult for you to contain the stigma, given our current situation." Vincent seemed to know a lot about the stigma, not many knew that it reacted when traumatic memories were thought about.

"Mm. I just hope I can keep it up, I don't want it to be triggered during a fight." The possibility of an attack at the moment was low, they had gained a lot of distance on the SOLDIER members but after two days they could catch up which is why this stay was so risky. "Why don't you leave the fighting to us?" Paine questioned "I can't just sit out of a fight, I need to protect everyone."

Paine seemed rather annoyed by Cloud's comment and proceeded to argue that everyone could handle themselves and didn't need protecting. Cloud knew this but he always had to be sure. He thought Zack could handle himself and look what happened, he thought Aerith could handle herself and look what happened. There's no way he would let anyone get hurt.

!~!

Cloud stood outside of his old house. Would the décor still be the same? He didn't know, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. All he was trying to do at the moment was to block out the images or the devastating waves of fire that haunted him for all these years. "Is this it?" Yuna stood beside Cloud, she seemed to be pulling him away from the traumatic moment that he was so desperately trying to avoid. "Yeah, it' bigger than I remember."

He wasn't sure why but Cloud found himself compelled to enter the house of his past, of course Yuna followed suit. The house was empty, not a soul in sight. Cloud didn't see a difference within the interior, it was the same open floor plan as it always had been with the kitchen in front, dining room to the left and the 'bedroom' to the right if you could even call it that.

Once again Cloud felt himself compelled to move towards the bed, like something was calling out to him. Upon making contact with the bed a vision flashed before him. The images were too fast to comprehend, all but one. It was the sight of himself in a stand off with Jenova, the green streams of the lifestream were surrounding them and the others were no where to be seen.

The images continued to flash in Cloud's mind until all that was visible was a white light that shone so brightly that it hurt his eyes. When Cloud was pulled back into reality by Yuna's voice all of the memories came flooding in. The fire, the destruction, the fear, the anguish and anger, the cold steel voice of Sephiroth, everything. Every last memory.

Cloud's arm tensed up and his pupils narrowed into black slits. The black ichor from the stigma oozed down his arm and dripped down onto the floor. Cloud soon followed the ichor and fell down onto the ground. All Cloud could hear was Yuna shouting for help, but as he lay there suffering from the pain of the stigma all he could think about was the images shown before him. Who showed them to him? Why did they do this? What were they trying to tell him? Cloud grew weaker by the second and soon enough all of his strength faded and his eyes closed sending him into a deep sleep, one that would be filled with horrors and memories and mistakes.

 **This was such a struggle to finish XD. I've been so busy with college assignments so I've only been able to work on this for like 10 minutes a day, but recently I've found a few slots in my day where I can focus on RTTNW. Expect updates soon!**


	8. Everyone Is Human

**Chapter 8 - _Everyone Is Human_**

Who are you? This was one of the many questions Cloud had for the mysterious being standing in front of him. "Where are we? What do you want with me?" Cloud didn't get an answer for a while. He reached for the hilt of his sword just in case only to find it wasn't there. All of his items were gone as well as all his materia that his rarely used anyway.

"You must be cautious, danger lies ahead. Expect the unexpected for it is this which will be your downfall." The being of green spirit energy disregarded Cloud's questions and answered questions Cloud didn't ask. "Hold on, what are you talking about? Who are you?" It didn't matter what Cloud said the being wasn't interested, it simply waved it's hand and sent Cloud away.

"Look, he's waking up." Denzel and Yuna were sat on the end of the bed waiting for Cloud to regain consciousness. When his eyes were fully open he got a crushing hug from both of them. "Are you ok?" Cloud looked at Yuna and nodded. "I'm fine, the stigma reacts when bad memories get into my head. I'm not being taken out that easily." He made sure he turned to Denzel and smiled when he said that.

"Seifer took a sample of your blood and he's analysing it now down in the laboratory of the Shinra Mansion with Vincent and Tifa. He's going to get to the bottom of why you still have geostigma." Yuna explained to Cloud. To be honest he didn't think that anyone would be able to find out why he still had the planet's disease. Anyway, Cloud couldn't dwell on the thought he needed to tell Yuna about his vision as well as the meeting he had with the strange being while he was asleep.

"Denzel, go and check on Seifer and the others. They'll need your help if any fiends are nearby." Cloud ruffled Denzel's hair before he ran outside and towards the Shinra Mansion. "Something wrong?" Yuna knew that Cloud wanted to tell her something, she didn't know why but she could always tell when something was troubling him. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was her spiritual guardian, Yuna didn't know.

"Before the geostigma was triggered I saw a vision, a vision of me fighting Jenova. I couldn't tell where we were but I was alone. There were other images but they were too fast for me to see. There's more, while I was asleep I had a strange meeting with a mysterious being. It said 'danger lies ahead, expect the unexpected'." Cloud explained to Yuna. It certainly was strange. "What does that mean? Expect the unexpected? What are we supposed to expect?"

"I don't know, but it can wait." Cloud pulled Yuna onto the bed and kissed her. Yuna smiled then started laughing as did Cloud. In this moment nothing else mattered, not Genesis, not Jenova, nothing. Maybe it was foolish but Cloud didn't care he just wanted Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to be free from all the fighting and life threatening events.

"When I first heard about Sephiroth I used to come here to practice. My mom wouldn't let me have a sword to practice with which is why I came here, so she wouldn't find out that I got one anyway." Cloud lead Yuna to a secret part of the town that nobody knew about but him. He would come here when he got angry or when he felt sad and practice his sword fighting. Unfortunately it didn't pay off, he still didn't make it into SOLDIER but that didn't matter now. "You think the sword is still here?" Yuna didn't know how likely it was that it was still there but she thought the idea of Cloud passing on his first sword to Denzel was a fitting thought.

"Probably, I was the only one who knew about this part of the town, or at least I think I was." Cloud sounded confident that it would be here. They continued on down the obscure path and into an opening of rocks, too small to be called a cave.

"Just where I left it." Cloud pulled the basic iron sword out from the ground. It wasn't anything special, no golden hilt or flashy tassels attached, no special features or abilities just a basic iron sword with an iron hilt and a battered leather handle. The balance wasn't very good either but it was all Cloud could find back then.

"I remember getting so excited when I found this lying on the ground, I didn't even notice the dead fiend lying next to it until it diffused into the lifestream." There was no weapon store in Nibelheim so for Cloud to find it was exciting. Sure it wasn't like the swords that SOLDIER had but it was something, it was the start of his story, his long painful story. "We should head back before we're missed." Yuna could see that old memories were being triggered in Cloud's head and didn't want another incident with the geostigma.

"Cloud! There you are!" Seifer was panting as he ran up to the pair. "I think I've figured out why you still have geostigma! It's the mako in your blood! Aerith's cure is still in your blood stream but the mako is blocking it." Cloud wondered what this meant. If the cure was there but it wasn't getting through completely what did this mean? "You're saying that I won't die?"

"Exactly! You'll still have the symptoms but it won't kill you because the cure is already there." Seifer explained, Cloud was surprised he didn't over complicate his explanation like he always did. "I also got a sample of the cure by separating it from your blood sample blasting a wave of electrons at the blood which made the positive atoms and negative atoms to separate and due to the…" there it was.

Seifer continued on to explain that he could alter the cure to over come the mako in Cloud's blood, but it would take a while. Right now they didn't have a while, stopping at Nibelheim was a big risk as it was. "We can't wait that long, after Christmas we'll be heading straight for Jenova. We'll figure out the stigma afterwards." In reality it would be pointless to cure Cloud. After thinking about the vision he had a theory of what would happen. Cloud was fighting Jenova alone, he wasn't sure whether he could do that himself and win, if he was going to die then what was the point?

After reaching Tifa's house Cloud and Yuna were met by an explosion of festive decorations and music. Rikku was still shouting orders on where to put things and it seemed like her festive ways had swayed the other towns people to decorate their houses. "Higher! To the right!"

"I can't hold this up forever Rikku!" Barret's arms had started shaking from holding up a life size Santa Clause roof decoration. Tidus, Yuffie, Red and the kids were all laughing at him while Cid and Reeve were hauling a Christmas tree inside the house. Cloud made his way into the house leaving Yuna outside to join in with the decorating.

Inside Tifa and Priscilla were getting the decorations for the tree ready whilst Paine spoke to them trying to make some kind of small talk, Vincent was at the window brooding like always. "Did you get Denzel's present?" Tifa asked as she started wrapping Marlene's. Cloud nodded and presented the sword he had tucked away in his own scabbard, out of sight from Denzel.

"I thought it was time he had a weapon of his own." Cloud handed Tifa the sword who didn't look too pleased by the thought of Denzel owning a dangerous weapon but she knew Cloud was right. She found a long box nearby and placed the sword inside it as she began to wrap the box.

Cloud had been meaning to head up to the old mako reactor ever since they got to Nibelheim, he wanted to make sure that Jenova wasn't still there. He wanted to do it alone to keep everyone out of harms way but there was no harm to keep them from. The tank that used to hold Jenova was empty as well as the other chambers inside the reactor.

"Predictable, you're getting sloppy." It seemed like Cloud was wrong, Genesis stood behind him with his sword drawn and liquid dripping off of it. "What's on your blade? Some kind of poison?" Cloud wasn't dense, he also knew that it was something specific to him after thinking back to when Genesis took a sample of his blood.

Genesis disregarded Cloud's question and continued to monologue. "It's a shame that you're trying so hard when you're just going to fail anyway and I'm not talking about saving the planet." Cloud was confused, could he be talking about his friends? "Maybe you could defeat Jenova, maybe not. It doesn't really matter, in the end you're friends will suffer all the same."

"What are you talking about?" Cloud was starting to get frustrated and his grip tightened, nobody threatened his friends. "Isn't it obvious? Mother needs mako energy in order to ascend in status to a god. We plan to help her with that. You think we've been pursuing you? We've been collecting mako, mako that we will use to infuse everyone's blood stream with G cells."

So that's what they were planning, they want to infuse everyone with mako so that Jenova could take their life force and become a god. "It doesn't matter what you're planning because I'm going to stop you here and now!"

Cloud lunged at Genesis who swiftly rolled out of the way. On the spin Cloud block a flurry of attacks and pushed back by launching a counter attack of his own. He slashed across Genesis's body followed by a swipe going up his body, both swings cut through the air but not Genesis. Cloud was being pushed back, blocking attacks and backing up towards the top of the stairs. Their blades lock d and Cloud got the better of Genesis on strength, creating enough space for him to jump in the air, perform a flip to generate more power and slam his sword down. Another miss and another counter attack. Cloud managed to dodge the red blade before it impaled him and the violet liquid flew past his face. In an attempt to take the offensive Cloud jumped over Genesis's head however his move was read like a book. While in the air Cloud was met with a few fast attacks which he had to block within quick succession. Now at the bottom of the stairs Cloud tried to catch Genesis off guard by starting to perform Meteorain only to cancel it as soon as he lunged for Cloud. This allowed him to jump over Genesis's attack and swing his own sword at him. Unfortunately the strike was blocked however the attack did send him flying into the metal wall which must've done some damage. Among the dust a shining object pierced through, it was Genesis's sword. Cloud didn' twee it coming until late on and only just managed to get out of the way, however not far away enough. The blade had made a small cut on Cloud's arm. Under normal circumstances Cloud wouldn't be concerned however due to the poison on Genesis's blade his concern was monumental.

When the dust cleared Genesis was gone. Cloud could feel his arm throbbing and an abnormality coursing through his veins. Something wasn't right, his field of vision decreased, he could no longer hear the turning of cogs as well as he could upon entering: he could feel his fusion sword growing heavier. The weight kept increasing, no Cloud's strength was fading. His resistance was futile, the sword was too heavy and he dropped it. Suddenly the cut began to hurt a lot more than it had before, his muscles were aching and he fell to his knees.

There was no other explanation, the mako in Cloud's blood, it must've been removed by the poison somehow. The glow in his eyes was gone, he could see it in his reflection on his sword. All he could do was sit there on his knees. Eyes wide open, jaw dropped and a tight grip on the ground. How was he going to protect his friends? How would he defeat Jenova? Was Genesis right? Were his friends all doomed, fated to become the slaves if Jenova?

After a good 30 minutes Cloud finally got up, it felt strange. Once again he tried to pick up his sword but with no avail. The best he could do was drag it at a slow pace. He could only do it in short bursts, another thing he relied on was gone. He no longer had the enhanced senses of the mako, the increased stamina or the increased strength and reactions. Completely useless, just like a fish without gills.

Barret had found Cloud in the snow trying to drag his sword along. At first Barret didn't see anything wrong until he fell down onto the ground. It was still a mystery to everyone what was exactly wrong with him, there was just a single cut on his arm that wouldn't even seem like a scrap to someone enhanced with mako.

"Bad news. After analysing the poison around the wound it appears that it had the intent on removing his mako." Seifer informed them. The laboratory seemed even more depressing than it was after hearing that. Nobody spoke. Nobody wanted to speak. What did this mean for their journey? What affect would this have on Cloud's state of mind?

The silence was broken by the sight of Cloud's eyes opening. Yuna thought it was strange seeing his eyes so dim. The usual ominous glow was replaced with dull and sullen eyes that looked as though they had given up. "Leave me." A broken voice was all that could be heard from the depressed warrior.

Slowly everyone filed out until only Yuna remained. "You have to keep going." Yuna was struggling to find words, while she didn't have mako in her blood she knew that having your everyday abilities taken away from you was hard. She wasn't sure whether she could do anything to motivate Cloud, he had to do it himself somehow.

"What's the point? I can't even pick up my sword let alone swing it around. I can't protect anyone, I can't fight, I'm useless. Weak." Cloud was struggling, you didn't need any special connection to see that. "You're a lot of things Cloud but useless isn't one of them." Yuna knew that he was hurting and she knew that he was vulnerable but she knew that he wasn't useless. "Just let me be alone. Please."

"How bad is it Seifer? Is Cloud gonna be ok?" Rikku was worried about Cloud, she had never seen him so broken or incomplete. "I'm not sure. I'll have to run a few tests before I'm certain he won't recover. To give a better answer, right now he's not ok. He is, at the moment, very mentally unstable. You don't need to be a scientist to see that. It's rather ironic that a tragedy like this strikes on the morning before the happiest day of the year."

"You're all forgetting, Cloud has been through much worse than this and still pulled through. We have to believe that he'll pull through." Tifa was trying to lift the spirits of everyone. She had noticed that Cloud wasn't the only one affected, if the leader's moral is low then so are their supporters'. "It's different this time, he can't fight anymore. We don't even know if he's going to continue the journey with us." Barret was looking at the bigger more realistic picture.

"No matter how you look at it, we're down a member, a leader. Someone has to take charge until Cloud recovers, if he recovers." Paine was trying to move their minds away from depression and towards taking action. Someone had to lead it was just a matter of who.

"I think it should be Yuna." Tifa knew that AVALANCHE would nominate her and to be honest, she didn't want the role as leader which is why she nominated Yuna. Actually that was only half the reason the other half was mainly due to the fact she probably knew more about the situation than anyone else. The way Cloud and Yuna were with each other she didn't think that Cloud would be able to keep anything from her.

Yuna was startled at first when Tifa nominated her as leader. She was even a little embarrassed though she didn't let it show. No one objected so Yuna spoke up "Alright I will lead. I think after Christmas we need an early start, as for Cloud leave it to me."

"You really think it's over? You think you aren't strong enough?" Cloud was in the presence of the being once again. When he sat up the room had changed, he was no longer in the laboratory but rather he was in a section of the lifestream. "You warned me and I failed to see it coming. It's over." The being came closer to Cloud displeased with his attitude. "I did not name you the guardian of the lifestream for no reason, I picked you not because of the connection the mako in your blood has an abnormally strong connection to the lifestream but because of the spirit you had."

Guardian of the lifestream? Cloud wasn't aware that he had the honour of having that title. The being tapped it'a wrist "Time passes a lot slower in this realm, when you go back your friends will need your help."

"How am I going to be able to help them? Where are you going? Come back and answer me!" The being didn't come back and the green streams of the lifestream began to circle him until all he could see was a bright green light.


	9. A Mission to Save the Planet

**Chapter 9 -** _ **A Mission to Save the Planet**_

It was dark in the laboratory, the only source of light came from the deviant glow of the chemicals that were lined around the outside. Cloud stood up from the chair he had been sat in during the consultation he had with the being which was yet to present him with a name. 'Your friends will need you' that's what it had told Cloud, but how was he going to help with out his mako abilities? He could use materia but hen had never been skilled with it. The only spells he mastered were lightning and ice which weren't very good spells in the long run.

Cloud didn't know what was going to happen or what he would be faced with when he exited the mansion but he did know that he had to help no matter what. Looking around the laboratory, Cloud didn't see his sword not that it mattered, he couldn't even pick it up, however he did eye up some materia. Time and fire, Cloud knew how to cast haste and he could throw a few fireballs which both wouldn't have been much on their own. By combining the two during combat perhaps Cloud could inflict some damage, maybe he wasn't as useless as he thought.

After climbing the spiral staircase and passing through the rooms of the mansion Cloud finally arrived outside. His friends were desperately trying to fend off Weapon. It seemed as though he had come for revenge. Some of the group were down and out while others continued to fight. Barret, Cid, Vincent and Paine were all that remained.

"Cloud! What are we going to do!?" Denzel and Marlene must've been hiding in the courtyard of the mansion while Weapon was attacking. Gritting his teeth Cloud responded with a gesture as if to say leave it to me.

"Ahhhh!" Barret started screaming with all the adrenaline rushing through his veins. Just before he was blasted by one of Weapons energy balls, Cloud managed to cast haste on himself and throw an intermediate fireball at the energy ball in an attempt to cancel it out. The fireball didn't work but that didn't matter, Cloud had already moved Barret out of the way before it even came close.

Barret mustn't have expected to see Cloud in the fight from the look on his face. "Where's the materia?" They didn't have time to talk they needed to act. Before Barret could tell him another blast came in causing the two to jump out of the way in opposite directions.

Obviously it appeared that Cloud wasn't going to get the chance to get some better materia, he would have to act as the support caster. He concentrated on the spell he wanted to cast and haste's everyone in the battle which would give them a speed advantage. That was all Cloud could really do other than cast fireballs that had no effect on Weapon it seemed.

The fight was in equilibrium for a long time. Cloud hasted everyone when he could and shot fireballs when he wasn't supporting his party members while Barret and Vincent sprayed Weapon with bullets from a far and Paine and Cid got in close up with sword and spear. Everything changed when Weapon decided to use it's Ultima Beam. Paine and Cid were caught in the impact and were removed from the battle which left Cloud Barret and Vincent vulnerable to Weapons melee attacks.

Weapon was smart and recognised Cloud as the support caster causing it to attack him first. If it wasn't for the haste spell Cloud would've been a goner. Slowly Weapon managed to take out Vincent and then Barret by getting close in and using it's claws, which left Cloud alone. He saw the glimmer of Paine's sword stuck in the snow and made a run for it.

After dodging countless attacks Cloud finally reached the sword and pulled it out of the ground. It was lighter than he expected, he thought it would be really difficult to lift her sword without the help of mako. As he was about to cast a haste spell Weapon caught on to his tactic and blasted him before he had the chance to cast it. To Cloud's surprise he was able to move out of the way in time. Something happened, Cloud felt stronger. He felt more awake and alert as he swung Paine's sword at Weapon. The blocking, the dodging and rolling they were coming to him more smoothly and naturally. Suddenly the darkness of the night wasn't affecting his vision as much and he could see the black and purple beast more clearly. There was a sudden urge of confidence injected into Cloud, he didn't think about it he just did it. Cloud leaped into the air only expecting to get a few centimetres off the ground, however he jumped up several metres just like when he had mako in his blood. He couldn't dwell on the thought though, he launched a few attacks in the air before landing on Weapons back and stabbing it in the eye.

It seemed as though the job was done after that blow, Weapon moaned as Cloud landed on the ground and it flew away, still groaning in pain. How did Cloud do that? He didn't have mako in his blood anymore. He looked down at Paine's sword and saw that his eyes were glowing again in his reflection. It was back. His mako was back!

!~!

"Incredible! The mako in your blood was still there all along! It seems like the poison from Genesis's blade couldn't remove all of it from your blood. It just took a bit of time for it all to regenerate, that sudden burst of adrenaline when you entered the fight must've sped up the process." Seifer seemed baffled that Cloud recovered from the poison, he wasn't sure what to think of that.

Cloud needed to tell everyone Jenova's plan, he hadn't gotten the chance to when he came back for obvious reasons. "Listen up everyone, this is important. Genesis is Jenova's new puppet, he' showing to all of the mako reactors and collecting barrels and barrels of mako. He plans to drop this mako over all of Gaea in order to give everyone mako madness. I also found out that those infected with mako madness will have their life force taken away from them by Jenova. The more of this life force she collects the stronger she will get and if we don't stop her soon she'll become powerful enough to destroy not only the world, but all traces of life as we know it."

The reaction Cloud got wasn't what he expected. Rather than staying silent the whole group were pumped up and pulsating with fighting spirits. "Tomorrow night! That's when we strike!" Barret yelled who was always the one that was always up for a fight closely followed by Cid. Cloud nodded "Can your new model get us to the Northern Cave before we're intercepted Cid?"

Cid was amused by Cloud's question hence the hysteric laughter coming from him. "Of course it can! It'll get us there in 2 hours tops from Rocket Town!" that was good to hear. It was a risk taking to the sky but they had to take it, there was no way of knowing when they would drop all of that mako. This journey was now a race, a race against time.

!~!

Christmas Day? Happiest day of the year? Cloud didn't think that this Christmas would be so happy, to his surprise he was wrong. He expected a dismal tone in everyone's voices and an overall depressing atmosphere but he got quite the opposite. "Merry Christmas Cloud!" Denzel, Marlene, Yuna and Rikku tackles him down to the floor and started laughing with joy and prosperity. Cloud stood up once everyone had gotten off of him and made his way into the living room where everyone was waiting.

The kids were eagerly waiting to open their presents and once Tifa gave them the nod they flew at them like two lions that had just found their prey. Denzel went straight for Cloud and Tifa's gift first, he knew that Cloud had gotten him something cool, he never disappointed him. After ripping through the wrapping paper and removing the lid of the box there was a glimmer of shiny metal. It was a sword! "You guys are the best!"

Cloud didn't remember the sword being so shiny or the handle being engraved with Cloud's newly taken family crest of a wolf. Tifa leaned over to him and whispered "I had Rikku polish it up a bit and add the crest, she also improved the balance and weight of it so it would be easier to use." Cloud was grateful. Tifa always went out of her way to make sure everyone had the very best. He would have to thank Rikku as well for making the weapon usable.

As the day progressed Denzel's skills were getting better. Cloud took him off road so he could practice his fighting on lower level fiends. Considering Denzel didn't have any mako enhancements the sword play came naturally to him. It would be a while until he was fighting higher level fiends though.

While Cloud watched Denzel, keeping an eye out for anything going wrong, his geostigma started to hurt. Cloud had hoped that it would've been cured while his mako was at low levels, but it seemed as though even the smallest the amount of mako could stop Aerith's cure. He didn't bring attention to it though, he didn't want Denzel to worry about him.

"Do you think maybe I could join in on the fights with you guys if we run into a fiend?" It was hard for Cloud to say no to him, but he had to. The fiends that he and the others fought were far too strong for Denzel to fight, maybe Cloud could let him fight the weaker fiends with some help.

!~!

The Christmas dinner was being dragged on by the more festive members of the group. It was obvious that everyone wanted to stay and enjoy the rest of the day, Cloud did too but he knew they couldn't.

"We need to go." Cloud put it straight to them and told them how it was. There were some sad faces but they didn't argue with Cloud, maybe they knew that the time would come eventually.

!~!

The journey to Rocket Town was quiet from what Cloud could see. From Fenrir he saw no one speak inside either of the trucks. He started to question himself and wondered whether he had made the right call, though he knew that the others were unhappy this was still the right decision. They might have a lot of time or they might be too late, Cloud didn't know.

At least Cloud's geostigma had relaxed a little bit since leaving Nibelheim. It was at it's worst when they went past the reactor, it took all of Cloud's strength not to fall off of Fenrir and pass out. He had so many terrible memories of that place, Tifa's Father, Tifa, Zack, they were all beaten down by Sephiroth.

Cloud had been so lost in his train of thought that he almost didn't see the entrance to Rocket Town coming up. He had to slam the breaks on and drift to the side to stop Fenrir from mowing down the pedestrians walking by in the town.

Christmas decorations were hanging from the houses and a big Christmas tree stood where the rocket used to be before Shinra launched it at Meteor. The street lamps lit the way for Cloud as he made his way to Cid's house. He saw the others pulling up just as he got to the front door. Shera must've been expecting them, as he was about to knock she pulled the door open.

"Long time no see Cloud!"

!~!

Cid had taken Rikku into the back to show her how his new ship worked while they worked on it together. They told Cloud it would be finished in about an hour. Everyone split off after the pair went to work. Reeve and Barret had made their way to the bar despite it being so late at night unsurprisingly. Yuna Paine and Yuffie had gone looking for some treasure and everyone else was sleeping.

Cloud was at the window watching the small droplets of rain hit against the window. "Can't sleep?" Tifa heard Cloud get up and walk to the window. Taking his gaze away from the window Cloud turned to face his childhood friend "You know, no one is mad at you. You made the right call." Tifa continued.

"I just…" Cloud sighed and sat down on the bed next to Tifa's. "I don't know if we'll be able to stop this together." He proceeded to tell Tifa about his meetings with the being from the lifestream and the vision he saw of him fighting Jenova alone.

Tifa was quiet for a few seconds until she stood up and looked straight at Cloud "Just because we weren't there doesn't mean you'll be alone. Don't you remember our time together in the lifestream? Even though they weren't physically there, everyone was still with you in your mind and heart."

She was right Cloud had forgotten. When he was searching for himself he could hear the voices of his friends calling him, when he fought Sephiroth he could feel them fighting with him, he wasn't alone. "Thank you, Tifa. You're a true friend, I'm sorry I haven't always been there for you and the kids. I won't run anymore."

!~!

50 minutes later and all hell had broken loose. SOLDIER members were pouring into the town coming in from all sides. Cloud split the group up into parties of three to defend the town whilst Cid and Rikku rushed to finish building the airship. He Yuna and Tifa were holding the members at bat at the entrance while the others stopped them from entering from the other sides.

Cloud had taken out the front blade of the fusion sword so he could dual wield in order to take out more enemies at a time. Tifa was using command materia to enhance her martial arts abilities and Yuna kept her distance spraying bullets at the enemy and healing Cloud and Tifa whenever they were getting weak.

An attack from above cane in and Cloud blocked it with the main blade and countered with the front blade knocking the SOLDIER into the crowd. "There are too many!" Tifa had just finished kicking an enemy into the air before she came to this conclusion. He knew Tifa was right, if they didn't leave now they would surely be defeated, but if they did leave what would happen to everyone in the town?

The three kept backing up until eventually they were up against the back of their allies. "Yo! We gotta get outta here!" Barret was right but how would they get to the airship, they were surrounded by hundreds of SOLDIER members.

"Keep fighting! We just have to hold on until Cid and Rikku finish the airship!" Cloud wasn't sure whether they would all make it out but he had to believe, they all did. It didn't take long before a pile of bodies built up in front of Cloud. It seemed like the other side was struggling to hold on so he took action.

"Tidus switch!" Tidus instantly rolled against Cloud's back to make a quick turn over. Immediately, Cloud launched his Meteorain limit break sending many of the enemies flying backwards creating a bit of room for them all. It was Paine and Red to his sides. He and Paine hadn't really fought together but Red was a different story. They both made eye contact and knew what to do, Red used his Sled Fang limit break and Cloud rode on the back of him life a surf board. Once the attack was launched Cloud followed up by jumping forward and performing blade beam which created a giant hole in the SOLDIERs' formation. It seemed like the mako maddened warriors were never ending. Even after Cloud and Red used that combo, the hole they created was filled back up just as quickly as it was made.

They were being pushed back again, this time more aggressively. Cloud found himself back to back with Tidus who he had just switched places with a few seconds ago. "We're done for!" Cloud couldn't tell who said it but they were right.

"Don't let up!" Cloud shouted over the battle cries and screams of pain. He didn't know whether anyone heard him but something had to change and fast. But how could Cloud change things? As it happened a Cloud couldn't change a thing, it was Cid and Rikku who were changing me the tides of the battle.

The airship took to the air in all of it's technological glory as the main guns shot at the enemy SOLDIERs. "Get your ass' on board!" Cid yelled from the deck of the ship as Rikku lowered it down for them all. A few of the SOLDIER members forced their way on too, but it was nothing Cloud couldn't handle.

Cloud couldn't help but feel guilty. What about the towns people? Couldn't they have been saved? Maybe it was meant to happen this way, or maybe around a hundred lives could've just been saved. Regardless, Cloud needed to look at the bigger picture. It was a hundred lives vs the rest of the planet.

Fortunately for Cid it seemed as though Shera managed to get aboard the ship before the SOLDIER members got to her. Over the last couple of years those two had gotten pretty close, their relationship now was the complete opposite of what it used to be back when Cid still blamed her for ruining his dream.

Rikku was flying the airship like a crazy person which didn't help Yuffie's motion sickness. Cloud felt for Yuffie, he knew the struggles of motion sickness and he knew that once you got it that was that. That is unless you knew how to cast esuna using the heal materia, but only the most advanced magic users could cast that high level spell.

"Could you slow down!?" Yuffie had started gagging, an unpleasant sight to the human eye. Cloud didn't think it was wise to use magic right before a big battle, it would drain the users energy which would mean there would be less for the fight.

"I have a tranquilliser, I know it's not the best solution but we can't use up our energy before we fight Genesis and Jenova." Cloud handed the tranq to her although she didn't seem very impressed by it. He would have the same reaction though, they tasted awful and didn't help all that well but at least it was something.

Cloud spent the journey combining command materia with his fusion sword to improve his melee combat. Double cut, deathblow and added affect linked with poison was the end result. Although the poison wouldn't work against Genesis or Jenova it would still work against the fiends along the way down.

Yuna was practicing with her sword in an alternate form of her dress sphere. Cloud hadn't seen this form before and he kind of liked it. A sword suited her in looks, execution not so much maybe she should stick with her pistols.

"Are you sure you don't want any materia?" Yuna had rejected the materia Cloud had offered earlier on which didn't sit well with him. "I don't think it would be right, besides I wouldn't be able to use it very well."

Shortly after their conversation Cid announced on the intercom that they were just a few minutes away from the Northern Cave. Cloud and Yuna made their way to the cockpit. A sea of green energy swirling around the biggest injury the planet has ever had, a pretty unsettling scenery.

"Once we go in there, there's no turning back. Are you all ready?" It felt strange, this was the second time Cloud had faced this journey and it didn't feel any different from the last time. Once again he felt lost and unprepared for the tasks lying ahead. He didn't know whether it was because there were more people that were close to him joining him on the journey or whether it was just his nerves kicking in.

When everyone confirmed they were ready, Cloud gave Rikku the nod to go down into the crater. This was it, no turning back now. Genesis and Jenova lied ahead. Were they going to be victorious, or would Cloud fail in his efforts to protect the planet as well as his friends?

 **We're almost there! What do you think is going to happen to Cloud and the gang? Also do you think we'll see any footage of the FFVII Remake at PSX on Saturday? Let me know in the review section! If you're enjoying the story be sure to favourite and follow and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!**


	10. All For Nothing?

**Chapter 10 – _All For Nothing?_**

The Northern Cave was a lot different than last time, although Cloud couldn't say he was surprised. Holy, the ultimate white magic, had blasted through the cave after all. It was visibly noticeable that there was more damage, the airship could go a lot further down than the last time which made things easier.

Cloud noticed Tifa telling Denzel and Marlene to stay put on the airship, he couldn't allow that. "Tifa, they need to come with us," There were a few surprised looks from Cloud's friends and he didn't blame them. He had always been against bringing the kids into the battle but this time they needed to come.

"If we can't stop Jenova, we have a way out. At the bottom of the Northern Cave, where we last fought Jenova, there is an unusual amount of mako. The lifestream is at it's strongest there and it will take us to Spira. No one can stay behind."

It was strange, Cloud and Yuna were only guessing that it would take them to Spira but something was calling out to Cloud. It was assuring him that it would lead to Spira, was it the same voice as that of the being he had been meeting?

They were moving at a slow pace which was expected considering they had to make sure the kids got down the slopes and got across the jumps safely. The fiends in the crater were more skilled than your average fiend but they weren't causing them too much trouble.

Cid, Tifa and Priscilla were at the front where as Paine, Rikku and Red were at the back. Both of those parties were fighting the fiends while the others made their way down. The pong range users helped out when they could but to be honest the help wasn't really needed. Cloud was focusing on getting Marlene and Denzel down safely and making sure they were alright and not freaking out.

"Listen guys. When we fight Genesis or Jenova, you find a place to hide and stay there until the fight is over. Understand?" The two children nodded in answer to Cloud's question and kept moving down.

It wasn't long until they found themselves coming up to the entrance to the planet's core and of course Genesis was there, just waiting. "Hmph, you're late." Genesis smirked at Cloud when he gripped his sword. He noticed a remote in Genesis's hand, was it what Cloud thought it was?

"I see the poison didn't work, no matter you're too late anyway. Once I push this button…" Genesis raised his arm in the air and before anyone could react he pressed a button on the remote. "That's all she wrote. As we speak the mako will be sinking itself into the veins of every man woman and child on the planet. Soon enough the exposure will make it's way to the crater as well, it's over!"

Just like that, they had failed. No, there was still time. If Cloud could kill Jenova before she absorbed the life energy of the people maybe, just maybe they could save the planet. "It's not over yet! All we need to do is destroy Jenova before she consumes the life essence of all the people. But first, we need to go through you!"

As soon as Cloud lunged for Genesis, SOLDIER members jumped out from the shadows and began attacking the others. They had split themselves up into groups of 3, Yuna and Tidus had come to help Cloud fight Genesis. Marlene and Denzel were hiding and out of sight Cloud noticed which was good.

Cloud went for a high strike and swung his sword downwards however Genesis was expecting it and blocked the strike. Yuna then prayed a flurry of bullets at Genesis which he only just managed to dodge, that was followed up by Tidus who launched a few quick attacks that were blocked easily. It seemed as though Genesis was holding back a little bit, the three of them would have to be weary about this. Cloud came in with a sweeping swing to the feet which Genesis jumped over, but Clod wasn't done there. He continued to spin around and launched a follow up attack which sent Genesis into the wall of the crater. As the dust came up, Yuna casted a few fire spells and sent them just above the place of impact causing rocks to fall onto Genesis. Tidus ran towards him doing a few flips in his build up to gain a bit of extra strength before slamming his sword down on Genesis. In a moment of surprise, Genesis placed his sword into the small hook on Tidus's sword. Not only did he block the attack but he also managed to plunk the sword out of Tidus's hands. If it wasn't for Cloud's quick thinking Tidus would surely have suffered a fatal injury or worse… Cloud could see the move coming and rolled just in front of Tidus as the dual wield attack came in, blocking it as soon as he got there. Two swords against one was dangerous so Cloud decided to even out the playing field by taking out the front blade of his fusion sword. It was like watching someone fight their own reflection in a mirror, the two matched each other's movements and attacks perfectly almost as if they were in a synchronised dance routine. Parry, thrust, slash. Parry, thrust, slash. They were at a stalemate, that is until Cloud heard the cocking of a pistol behind him. He immediately knew what to do, he backflipped over Yuna who was waiting to unleash a wave of bullets. Genesis was caught off guard and dropped Tidus's sword as well as his own which allowed Cloud to dash in and slash Genesis across the chest.

"You think even if you defeat Jenova you will save the planet? Have you not been paying attention?" Genesis could barely speak and he was breathing heavily with blood dripping down his clothes. "Jenova has been absorbing energy from the planet ever since she got here, the two are connected. If you destroy her what do you think will happen?"

"You mean, even if we kill Jenova the planet will be destroyed anyway?" Cloud couldn't believe what he was hearing, if Jenova absorbed the rest of the life essence from the people the world would be destroyed. If they killed Jenova the world would be destroyed because she has already been absorbing energy from the planet and the two were interlinked.

Genesis has just vanished into the green streams of the lifestream as the others made their way over. Cloud explained the situation to them and left them in silence. The realisation of failure had kicked in.

"There's only one thing we can do, you all have to take refuge on Spira. It's too late for everyone else on Gaea." Cloud broke the silence and presented them with a solution, though a grim one it was the only one they had.

"What about you, Cloud?" Yuna asked the question everyone else was thinking. It wasn't easy for Cloud to face them. He was silent for a few seconds until he found the courage to tell them what he was going to do. "If Jenova succeeds in destroying the planet then she'll just move onto the next one. I'm the only one here who can resist her will, I have to stop her and put an end to her rein of tyranny."

Cloud heard their arguments and complaints but his mind was made up. He knew the others were worried, he knew they wanted to help, but he knew that only he could do it. "You don't have to worry. I'll be fighting her right next to the way to Spira. As soon as I beat her I'll jump through, trust me."

After jumping across to each platform the group had made it to the planet's core. Just as Cloud suspected their was a swirling green portal on the floor right at the end of the circular platform. In the centre stood a woman, Jenova. Cloud didn't expect her true form to look so human like but it was. The only difference was the blue skin and the radiant glow being emitted from her being. She held two long swords by her side, one in each hand. When Cloud approached she looked up from the ground and smirked.

Jenova didn't take any notice of the others, her gaze was fixed on Cloud. "Get to the portal. I'll meet you there, I promise." Cloud locked eyes with Yuna before she headed to the portal along with the others. Jenova didn't batt an eye when they ran past her.

Cloud drew his fusion sword and held it firmly to the right side of his face. Jenova tilted her head a little. "You resist me. Why?" She seemed puzzled when Cloud didn't reply, she mustn't have been used to people ignoring her. "A hero of the planet, the guardian of the lifestream, the Cetra always were overly dramatic."

"Cetra?" What was Jenova talking about? What did the Cetra have to do with Cloud? She seemed to find amusement from Cloud's confusion, a smile of sympathy creeping onto her face. "You mean you were never told? She didn't tell you about your father?" Who was she talking about? Was it the being that had been visiting Cloud?

"My father died when I was young, he wasn't special or important. He was a simpleton so why are you bringing him up?" Cloud was getting agitated with Jenova, his family was a touchy subject for him and he didn't like talking about them. "You're father wasn't a simpleton, he was one of the last remaining Cetra. A protector of the planet, just like you. I remember when I fought against him, it was a good fight and I took great pleasure in claiming victory as well as his life."

Cloud's father was a Cetra? Did that mean Cloud was a Cetra? Those questions didn't matter to Cloud at the moment. Jenova killed his father. She took him away from Cloud and for that she would pay.

The first mistake had been made by Cloud. His first attack was easily dodged and Jenova swung for his neck. Luckily he managed to roll forward just in time, however he didn't have any time to rest as Jenova came in with a follow up attack which he had to spin around to block. Cloud hadn't forgotten about her free sword and rolled sideways to dodge the incoming attack on his left that he anticipated. Three more strikes came in, one on the right, one on the left and one in the centre which Cloud stopped by wedging his sword in between Jenova's two swords. He pulled the fusion sword through the swords breaking their connection then span around to gain momentum and extra strength in his strike. Jenova blocked it but the resulting impact sent her skidding backwards on her feet. Cloud followed up with his Braver limit break which Jenova caught by crossing her swords just above her head. By pushing against the fusion sword she managed to send Cloud back up into the air, she jumped upwards to follow him and unleashed a flurry of speed attacks. The attacks were so fast that not even Cloud's enhanced reactions could keep up. It was basically a 50% chance that Cloud would block one of the strikes. At this point he was just guessing where she was going to strike based off of his own sword play knowledge.

If this kept up Cloud would be a goner. In a moment of quick thinking he span around rapidly swinging his sword as he did which caused Jenova to be redirected towards the ground. Once again Cloud had breathing air, while he had the opportunity he chugged down a potion just before he landed which caused some of the minor wounds to vanish straight away while the more sever ones were only healed slightly or not at all.

Again the two engaged in a close quarters situation. Cloud had to take the offensive in order to stop Jenova from unleashing her deadly speed. He swung the fusion sword with his right arm downwards towards Jenova's left which was blocked and anticipated. Despite this, Cloud had other intentions. When their sword locked Cloud unclipped one of the smaller side blades which span in the air and landed straight in Cloud's left hand where he then released a quick powerful strike. He just couldn't break through her defence, the attack was blocked and with even greater speed she countered with a swing at Cloud's legs.

Cloud was swept off of his feet and fell on his back. Two swords came flying at his face which he just managed to block with his own two swords. Quickly after blocking the swords Cloud rolled out of the way of a downward aerial strike that would've surely killed him.

Only one thing could save Cloud. He recombined his swords and held it straight out in front of him. Cloud felt the power of the mako surging through his veins and blue energy began radiating from him. With all the power in his body he launched himself at Jenova and performed Omnislash. Left, right, up, down, across, vertically, horizontally, you name it that's the direction Cloud attacked. Not a single strike landed and when he went in for his final aerial blow Jenova blocked it with one of her swords leaving Cloud in midair. With her free sword she slashed Cloud's stomach, sending him backwards and causing him to land on his back.

Cloud was bleeding out. He had lost. Is this how it was going to end? Would Cloud die here with so many unanswered questions? "I haven't had a fight like that in centuries. You put up a good fight, but it was obvious from the start that you were put matched." Jenova made her way over to Cloud who lay there gripping his sword yet too weak to use it. She raised her swords and stabbed Cloud in both sides of his chest. "Argh!!"

"Why don't you take a look at all of the people you have let down in your dying moments as I drain their life essence?" Jenova waved her hand and an image of all of the people on the planet was created. They were all lying on the floor, some were in the air. Green streams were coming off of them as if it were being sucked away from them.

Cloud had rolled over onto his stomach now and watched in horror as Jenova collected the energy. All of those green streams of energy had congregated at their location and were swirling around Jenova. Cloud wasn't going to stand for this, Jenova said that his father was a Cetra which meant Cloud was also a Cetra, the last one. If his job was to protect the planets then that's what he was going to do. Jenova couldn't be allowed to live. Cloud crawled towards her before standing up and ramming his sword straight through her back.

"That's for my father." When Cloud removed his sword both of them fell to the ground and the energy that was swirling around them began to frantically rush around. The planet was screaming in pain. In the image of the people Cloud could see cracks forming on the ground and surges of green energy gushing up from them. The planet was dying. Cloud crawled towards the portal that lead to Spira hastily. Just as he got there, an enormous scream could be heard and the last thing Cloud remembered was feeling the pain of the planet and the blinding white light that burned his eyes.

 _"Breathe."_

 **Returning to the New World is done! There will be a continuation of this and Cloud in the New World in my next story! Avalanche aren't done with their adventures, but is Cloud? Let me know in the reviews what you think happened to Cloud! Did he die? Did he make it to Spira? Let me know! Be sure to favourite the story if you enjoyed it and just wait for the next story, Trouble in the New World!**


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